Birth By Moon
by sooperspicy386
Summary: Attacking a human is punishable by death without trail. When 15 year old Remus attacks another student during the full moon, his life seems to be over. Facing the consequences and the girl he attacked, he learns how one night can change everything. AU
1. Chapter 1

"Remus has a girlfriend, Remus has a girlfriend!" Sirius chanted juvenilely as he shut the dorm room door behind the two. James looked up from his Defense Against Dark Arts text with an amused expression.

Setting his book bag on his bed, Remus pretended that his face wasn't scarlet. "Sirius, stop acting like a child. I have no such thing." He pulled out his Potions book and took off his shoes before propping himself on the impeccably made bed.

Sirius gasped. "Remus! How dare you call your girlfriend a _thing_. Women are not objects; they are living, breathing creatures."

James stifled a chuckle at Sirius's dramatics and turned to Remus. "Who is he talking about?" He asked.

Remus turned even redder and opened up his book.

"Kylie, that Ravenclaw girl that we see in the library when we fetch Remus for being socially isolated for too long." Sirius grinned, "I guess there wasn't much social isolation going on after all."

Remus rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "We barely even talk to each other so I really don't know how you could make such an assumption."

James's mouth formed a grin much like Sirius's. "Well, I'm sure you two aren't dating, but based on the colour of your face, you probably wouldn't oppose the situation, should it ever be presented to you."

"It shall be presented to you!" Sirius declared, triumphantly standing on his bed. "As your best mates, our duty is to make you sound like the most brilliant, most intellectual, most charming…"

"Most sophisticated," James added.

"Most enticing,"

"Most satisfying,"

"Most sexually experienced,"

"Most delicious,"

"Most fantastic and all-around-greatest-guy in Hogwarts History," finished Sirius, a content smile on his face.

Remus didn't know if he should be horrified, amused or flattered by his friends' words. Usually, he just blinked and went back to whatever he was doing, but Remus didn't want his chances of even having a friendship with Kylie to be completely ruined by his friends' antics.

"Alright!" He said, exasperated, "I fancy her a bit. But only just a bit. So, I would appreciate it if you two just left it alone."

"Aw, now was that so hard?" Sirius asked, jumping from his bed to the floor. "It's about time. Tsk, tsk, 15 years old without a first kiss. But now you have a standing chance, so you must pursue the relationship immediately. Care to follow the grand and all-knowing dating advice of Sirius Black?"

This time, Remus just blinked. "No."

Even James rolled his eyes at Sirius's last comment, which Sirius saw.

"Oh, and you're the expert in this area," Sirius said, brow raised.

Remus knew where the conversation would go. He sighed and closed his book, knowing that any studying would be futile.

"I happen to be an expert, she just hasn't said yes yet," James countered weakly.

"If you're such an expert, then why does she seem more interested in Snape than a man of your character?" Sirius asked.

"Do you two really have to start this now?" Remus interrupted. He regretted reminding the two that he was still in the room, as the conversation quickly turned back to him.

"Ah, good one Moony; Distracting James and I from your personal matters by pitting us against each other. But no matter," Sirius said, walking over to the boy, "Your girlfriend will be in the up most of our priorities."

"Remus has a girlfriend?" Peter asked, entering the dorm room.

Sirius and James grinned. Remus groaned.

Ten minutes later, the three entered the Great Hall for lunch. Because it was Friday, the only classes held were in the morning. Remus felt a little irritated that the next full moon would be on that Sunday. Missing class gave him a sense of dread, especially in the middle of the semester. However, his grades never reflected his absences. Most of the time he spent in the Infirmary was dedicated to homework and studying.

"There," Sirius said, motioning his head in the direction of the Ravenclaw table. "The blonde with the blue shirt."

James's face bloomed recognition. "Oh right, I remember her. 4th year, right?"

Remus couldn't help but follow the other boys' gaze to the brown-eyed girl. Remus liked her subtleness; she wasn't the most popular, nor categorized as a loser. Her lack of particularly curvy curves or busty breasts left her out of the 'hot' crowd, but her body wasn't unattractive.

"Not bad," James approved. A small relief spread through Remus, his need for approval satisfied. "A perfect match for you, really," he continued absently, "Nerdy, kind of shy. A bit more athletic than you, I suppose. She was Ravenclaw's keeper last year, right?"

Remus nodded and uncomfortably took some food. The conversation immediately turned to the current Quidditch practices and standings.

Paying little attention to anything other than the terrible scraping sounds of forks, knives, and plates, Remus stayed silent. It didn't take very long for the sounds to overwhelm him, especially so close to the full moon. His head pounding, he stood up.

"My heads killing me, I'm gonna go get something from Madame Pomfrey before I explode." With a short sympathetic look from his friends, Remus walked out of the Great Hall and started heading towards the Infirmary.

Hands in his pockets, Remus looked around at all the paintings and moving staircases. After visiting the Infirmary at least once a month for five years, he knew how to get there. He maneuvered through a few more hallways, and then his eyes widened.

At the end of the hallway walked Kylie. She seemed to be in a bit of a hurry, and Remus felt an incredible discomfort consume him. With no other way to the Infirmary than this, he continued walking. He kept his eyes low and his head down, avoiding any sort of awkward confrontation. Ten more steps and then she would be behind him. 8, 7, 6, 5, he felt a blush creep up his neck to his face, 3, 2, he looked up just enough to meet her eye and bit down on his lip hard. He offered a small, polite smile and kept walking, feeling extremely embarrassed.

"Um, Remus?" Kylie asked. He was surprised that she even remembered his name.

Shaking off shock, he turned to face her. "Um, yes?" _Very articulate. _

"Have you seen a cat? I just went up to give him some treats from lunch when he, um, darted out the common room door." She explained, her face forming concern.

Remus sincerely wished that he could say yes. Instead, he shook his head. "Sorry, I haven't."

She sighed. "Alright, well thank you anyways." She paused. "If you see him, then give him to another Ravenclaw. He's about this big and is silver with white paws," She explained, talking with her hands.

Remus nodded, still blushing, and picked at his nails as she spoke. "I-I will." _Nice stutter_.

She gave him an awkward smile and started to walk in the opposite direction. Suddenly, Remus realized that a chance had been presented to him. _Say something!_

"Wait," He said, and she stopped walking and turned around. He inwardly smashed his head on the wall as his mind drew a blank. Thinking as quickly as he could, he blurted the first question that came to mind. "Do you always keep him cooped up in your dorm room?" _Not bad._

Kylie's brow furrowed at the question and she nervously ran a hand through her hair. She nodded, "Yes, why?"

"Well, um," Started Remus, "Animals like being able to run around in big places. Maybe, if you, uh, took him outside every once in a while, then he wouldn't want to run off."

Remus hoped he didn't sound as stupid as he thought. Kylie seemed to consider his words, and she smiled shyly.

"That makes sense, thanks, I'll try that sometime soon." There was an awkward pause. "Sounds like your good with animals then?"

Remus let out a bitter chuckle. Animals tended to run from him, especially around the full moon. They had enough sense to stay clear of something that wanted to eat them. "Um, not exactly. They don't seem to like me." Although the conversation was going well, Remus felt more uncomfortable by the second.

Kylie didn't pursue the question, which created another awkward silence. She tugged at the hem of her blue shirt and took a step back. "Well, I've got to go look for my cat, so I'll, uh, see you around?"

Remus smiled a little too wide. "Yeah, see you around."

With that, the two of them walked in opposite directions. Quickly, Remus played the conversation over and over again in his head. He scolded himself for sounding so stupid, but congratulated himself for actually talking to a girl. Still, he walked into the Infirmary grinning and blushing.

"Someone looks happy," Sirius remarked when Remus met back up with the group in the dorm. After James left for Quidditch practice, Peter lay on his bed, groaning from eating too much food, and Sirius pestered Remus.

"It's nothing," Remus lied.

Sirius took a step back and examined Remus's face in the same way that an artist examines a priceless painting. "Hmm… Good form, but terrible execution. The pink cheeks and eye-contact aversion gave it all away. Better luck next time though."

Remus sighed. As convincing as he could be to others, lies never worked with Sirius.

"It's not a big deal, I just talked with Kylie for maybe thirty seconds," Remus explained, walking towards his book bag.

"Aha!" Sirius exclaimed, "Look at our Remus, all grown up and pursuing relationships, just like big brother Sirius told him to."

"It was just a coincidence that I'd find her. She was looking for her cat."

Sirius narrowed his eyes dramatically. "That's what they all say."

"That doesn't even make any sense," commented Peter from his bed. Remus silently agreed.

Lowering his voice, Remus glanced left and right, as if spies could pop out of the walls at any given moment. "I need to get to bed earlier than usual because of, you know," He glanced at the calendar that had a big red circle around the 5th of November.

"Right," Sirius agreed, looking less dramatic. "Well you go study, and I'll go to the common room for some entertainment. Peter, keep doing a great job of not moving." With that Sirius departed.

Sunday came and went much too quickly for Remus's liking. By 6 pm, the sun was almost set. Remus packed up some clean clothes to bring to the Infirmary and started to head out of the dorm room.

"Don't worry Moony, we'll be there in a couple of hours to let you roam free," Sirius said in attempts to comfort his distressed friend.

Every full moon since the start of this year, Sirius said those exact words. Every full moon since the start of this year, something inside Remus protested such arrangements. He worried that he would run towards the castle and attack other students, but Sirius always assured him that nothing like that could ever happen. Sirius tended to be right when it came to Remus.

So when Remus started heading towards the corridors that led to the grounds, he felt confident in his friends. They would keep him safe, and he never ended up with self-mutilated injuries afterwards.

He froze when he saw Kylie walking in the same direction, silver cat in her arms.

"Hi, Remus," She said, smiling. She looked just as surprised and pleased to see him as he was. He wanted to stay and talk, but he feared losing track of time.

"Oh, sorry Kylie, I'm kind of in a hurry." He winced after the words came out of his mouth, as they sounded incredibly rude.

She looked at the wall. "Oh, um, no worries." She noticed the folded clothes in his arms. "Where exactly are you going?"

Remus hated lying. "Um, my mother is ill so Dumbledore lets me go visit her every so often," He explained with perfect tone and believability. He told the lie so many times that he easily fit the part.

Kylie's eyes widened. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I won't keep you then. Have a nice time with your family," She said, and walked to a different entrance to the grounds.

Remus ran a hand through his sandy locks and shook his head. _One more person believing your pity story._

When Remus arrived inside the Shack, he put his clothes on the top of a bloodied dresser for safe keeping. He sat in the middle of the room and swallowed. The waiting was what he hated most. Sitting, waiting for the pain drove him crazy. He picked at his nails, tapped his foot against the floorboards, and concentrated on his breathing.

It was in those moments that Remus felt very alone. He knew his friends would keep him company shortly, but at that time he saw no one else. He felt his heart pound a little harder in his chest; his eye brows twitched. Swallowing harder, he removed every piece of clothing he had until he stood naked in the center of the disgusting room. Sirius promised time and time again that he would get James and Peter to help clean the place up, but life always got in the way.

He folded his old clothes and placed them next to the clean ones on the dresser. His muscles began to tremor. This sped up his breathing as the cycle started. Every time, Remus would come to the Shack mentally prepared for the events, and every time he would end up losing all preparation once the pain started.

"No…" He whispered, his muscles spasms becoming more and more violent after each second. It was at this moment when Remus became the child he was when he was first bitten.

"No, please," He begged, tears stinging his eyes. And then _crack!_ His bones broke to fit their new shape. Remus let out an agonizing scream. _Rip! Crack! Snap! _His flesh torn and reshaping, his bones broken and reshaping. Remus screamed and screamed and screamed until his voice went sore. Then, everything went black.

Three days later, Remus woke up in St. Mungos Hospital instead of the infirmary.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So this is my first HP story and I would love some feedback. I don't own anything. Really.

* * *

The first thing Remus noticed when he regained consciousness was the satisfaction. For nearly ten years, half of Remus's mind lived in disdain and bitterness. Always lusting for blood, the wolf tried daily to break into Remus's consciousness and take over. The feelings of relief and satisfaction of his other half were a huge burden lifted. Remus didn't have enough time to question the change before he noticed other differences from his usual awakening.

The second thing he noticed was the smell. The overwhelming scent of clean hit his nose hard. Madame Pomfrey kept the Infirmary impeccable but Remus immediately recognized a difference. Realizing that he couldn't be in Hogwarts, he opened his eyes in alarm. He looked up to a white ceiling and around to white walls in his small room.

"Remus?" Someone addressed him. Remus turned his head to see a puffy-eyed James. With every new discovery, a new distress plagued Remus.

"James… What…?" he asked, his voice hoarse from lack of use. Another difference from his usual wake ups. He sat up and felt the many bandages that constricted his body. Gauze molded around his shoulder, his stomach, and his thighs. This wasn't a huge surprise—although, whenever his friends joined him on full moons his injuries decreased significantly. He realized that his friends must not have joined him that night.

James stood up and walked over to Remus's bed. Suddenly, Remus recognized where he was. "J-James why?" he coughed, "St. Mungos?"

It was then that Remus knew something was very, very wrong. His head spun at the possibilities. He mentally screamed, remembering his only other visit to the hospital. Nearly ten years ago, Remus woke up with aches, pains and a new half in a similar room. Concentrating on the present, he forced himself to calm down with the comforting thought that he was just mutilated by his other consciousness to a ridiculous extreme. He could easily have hurt himself too much for Madame Pomfrey to handle.

Then Remus realized why James's eyes were so puffy. His entire paradigm became severely shifted. James Potter did _not_ cry. Before Remus could question him, James turned to leave.

"I'm going to get Dumbledore; he'll explain everything," James replied, his lip quivering for a shadow of a second.

_Dumbledore?! _Noticing Peter, drooling and asleep in a chair against the far wall, Remus realized the absence in the room. Everything piece of information slid together to make a horrifying conclusion.

"I-I killed h-h-him," Remus breathed before James walked out the door. The wolf inside became overjoyed by those words. That feeling only confirmed Remus's suspicions. His breath came quicker and quicker until he hyperventilated and shook.

"What?" James asked, confusion etched into every feature on his handsome face.

"S-Sirius," Remus whispered, tears stinging his eyes.

"No, Rem, he's fine," James replied, "I promise." He left the room quickly.

Those words calmed the boy down, but he still knew something was up. If he hadn't killed Sirius, then where was he? Always the person he saw first when waking up, Remus considered Sirius to be the friend who cared for him the most. Of course, no one ever talked that way.

Turning his attention away from the door and to the foot of his bed, Remus smiled. His favourite books, Casting Moonshadows and For the Love of a Child snuggled close with assorted chocolates and jelly beans. The sight made a more concrete and comforting situation in his head; he had just hurt himself too much for Madame Pomfrey to handle.

"Aha! Remus, so glad to see that you've joined the living again," said Dumbledore as he walked into the room and closed the door behind himself. James didn't follow him inside.

"P-Professor, what's going on?" Remus asked, scratching his arm from the uncomfortable fabric of his hospital gown.

Then, for the first time in his life, Remus Lupin saw Albus Dumbledore turn serious. His stomach plummeted at the look on his Headmaster's face.

"Before I say anything else, you must keep in mind that nothing is certain right now, particularly your fate." Dumbledore replied.

_Just tell me!_ He wanted to scream, but instead he nodded.

"Remus, I'm afraid that a tragic incident occurred last Sunday night. Somehow, you were let out of the Shrieking Shack and attacked another student." He explained, looking Remus, bright blue eyes meeting amber.

All the colour drained from Remus's face. "No…" He breathed. His thoughts immediately turned to Sirius, and he felt his stomach clench violently.

"Ms Kylie Anderson is being treated with the best medical care there is. She is expected to have a full recovery, but now carries the condition that transferred when you bit her."

Remus blinked. What did Kylie have to do with this? He didn't understand. Just as he was about to voice his question, something clicked inside his head. Then, he understood. Remus promptly leaned over the side of his bed and wretched up all over his stomach contents onto the floor, just missing the bedpan.

-------------------

After Dumbledore cleaned up the mess, Remus cried. He put his head in his hands and let every emotion out because he knew the penalty. James knew the penalty as well, which explained his tears. The fact that he infected another person was bad enough, but his whole body shuddered at the consequence. Dumbledore seemed to read his mind.

"Remus, you are underage and Ms Anderson was out of bounds when the attack occurred. Your trial is set for next Sunday morning at 8 am. Like I said, nothing is certain right now."

Remus wanted to believe that somehow he could avoid the death penalty, but not even Dumbledore could convince him. He drew a shaky breath, sniffled, and wiped his tears. "Where i-i-is Sirius?" He stuttered, wanting the comfort of all of his best friends.

"In order for you to have the best outcome of the trial, everything is being kept strictly confidential. Sirius, although with irritation, agreed to stay at school because he is a very recognizable person, with a very (Dumbledore cleared his throat here) traditional family. The rumor around school is that a terribly contagious virus infected the four of you." Dumbledore explained. He looked at the assorted objects on Remus's bed and showed a small smile. "Of course, that didn't stop a few from donating to your well being."

Remus wanted to smile too, but he couldn't.

"Your father was notified of the incident but we have yet to hear anything from him," Dumbledore said, "Not to worry, he'll be here by Sunday."

Remus doubted that. After he got bitten, his parents quickly separated. Having a werewolf for a son made life increasingly difficult, so his father turned to alcohol for sympathy. A few years later, Remus's mother died of a broken heart, which sent his father deeper into his depression. It didn't exactly sit well with Remus either, but he was too young to understand what death truly meant.

But now he would.

Tears stung his eyes once more and a thick substance formed in the back of his mouth. "What's g-going to happen now?" He whispered, pulling the blankets up to his chest.

Dumbledore seemed to consider his words before speaking. "If Kylie's parents don't press charges, the trial will go a lot smoother."

Remus threw off his sheets and stood up. "P-Professor, I have to g-g-go apologize." Regardless of what would happen, he knew he couldn't face anyone until he did what little he could to mend the situation. Although he knew that the apology would be meaningless, and he would probably be kicked out of her room in seconds, he had to try. Still shaking, stuttering and scared, Remus staggered for the door. He passed Peter's sleeping mass on the way, and wondered how the boy could sleep through so much.

"I'm off to make arrangements with Professor Slughorn for some Polyjuice potion. If he has any spare, I don't see why Sirius couldn't use it for a short visit." Dumbledore smiled at Remus while the boy hobbled out of the room.

By the time he got halfway down the hallway, he knew he was lost. He knew how stupid he must've looked from bystanders; a confused skinny boy whose bottom lip wouldn't stop quivering. Even so, Remus kept willing himself forward.

"That son of a bitch is going to get what's coming for him!" He heard someone yell two rooms away. Remus froze.

"Honey, just calm down, please." He heard a trembling woman's voice this time.

Remus walked over to the room and peered in, knees wobbly.

"No, Maddy, I won't. This freak ruined our daughter's life, and your telling me to calm down?" The man lowered his voice, but only sounded more terrifying to Remus.

Mustering up every last ounce of courage he had, Remus walked into the room. The unconscious blonde girl confirmed his suspicions, and he felt like puking again. The man, obviously Kylie's dad, turned and noticed Remus. His face contorted into offense and confusion.

"Who are you? This is a private room," He growled, and Remus took a step back out into the hallway. Although he wanted to look at the man, he couldn't keep his eyes off of Kylie. Her fragile body wrapped up in various bandages, her bedside table covered with assorted potions and remedies.

The sight served too much for him, and in seconds Remus's eyes stung again. His lip trembled and he looked at the father's furious face. Everything suddenly became real. _I really attacked her_, he thought, finding it difficult to breathe.

"I-I," he stumbled, unable to remember the right words. "I'm s-s-so sorry." His chest and throat began to ache as he looked at the mixture of emotion on the adult's faces. The mother seemed to understand who he was immediately, and covered her hand over her mouth. The father looked just as confused as before.

Remus couldn't manage anything else so he quickly limped out of the room and back to his own, in desperate need of a calming potion.

* * *

So, what did you think? Too angsty? Not enough? Anyone out of character? All you have to do is push that little button at the bottom of your screen and all your important thoughts will be sent right to me. Thanks for reading : ) Oh, and I don't own Casting Moonshadows nor For the Love of a Child, those are just my favourite fanfics.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: I would like to give a special thanks to my Beta Reader, Rasa Von Tabula. And of course, to my readers. Reviews always encourage me to write more, and constructive criticism is always helpful. I own nothing. Anyways, enjoy the story.

* * *

Remus didn't sleep well that night because of the dreams. The wolf's memory, as good as Remus's, played across his eyelids after he drifted to sleep.

_Moony hated being enclosed in the small shack, so his release relieved him greatly. Padfoot barked and led the way into the forest where the others waited. Moony trotted happily behind, letting the Alpha male lead. If he could grin, he would. _

_ 10, 20 minutes later, Padfoot stopped. Moony howled loudly when he saw the rest of his pack up ahead. Prongs and Wormtail walked over to the two and then the games started. Moony spent a half hour chasing Wormtail around the forest, trying to catch him in between his paws. Another half was spent wrestling with Padfoot and Prongs, each playfully trying to best the other. _

_ Suddenly, Moony stopped. His nose picked up a whiff of something extremely enticing. Immediately, he felt saliva drip down his chin. Moony knew he wouldn't have to run very far to catch the prey, so he took off away from the pack. _

_ "Rumbles!" A girl's shaky voice called from not 100 feet away. Her voice carried in the quiet night. Padfoot must have heard the girl as well, because Moony heard him following behind. He reached the girl in a matter of seconds, and he stood on his hind legs to intimidate her. He saw her horrified face and tensed up, ready to attack._

_ But not for long. He quickly met the ground when Padfoot slammed into his side. Shocked that the Alpha attacked him, Moony stayed on the ground for a moment. Padfoot capitalized on that and changed back into Sirius._

_ "Peter!" he screamed, eyes bulging, "Go get Dumbledore!!"_

_ He changed back and tackled Moony again. Moony, however, possessed a much greater strength and threw Padfoot off, snarling. Prongs, not close enough to attack yet, sped up his gallop. Moony smashed Padfoot into a tree after the smaller attempted to stop the hunt yet again._

_ Moony turned back to the girl, who had sprinted in the other direction. He caught up to her and slashed a clawed paw at her back, ripping her Ravenclaw robes. She screamed before her voice was muffled by her face full of dirt as she smashed into the ground. Moony howled and then took advantage of her position, biting down on her thigh. The blood rushed into his mouth and he shuddered in euphoria. The sweetness overcame him and his mind only thought of the flesh that would soon be in his stomach._

_ He felt cool air replace the bloodied muscles as Prongs charged into him with his antlers. He was falling backwards, away from the girl who wouldn't stop screaming and crying for help. He fell and_

_fell and fell_

_and fell and fell…_

"Remus!"

Remus's eyes opened and he sat up straight in the bed. James stood next to the bed, his eyes wide. "You were having a fit," he explained. Remus felt a sudden rush and then recalled the dream in vague images. Him running and playing. Him seeing a girl. Sirius yelling. Him being tackled. Him attacking and biting a girl. Suddenly, he realized the dream probably portrayed accurate events. His stomach twisted into pretzels and he put his face in his hands.

"Chocolate?" James offered, seeing his friend in distress. Remus accepted the goods and sighed. "Kylie's parents…" James started uneasily, "They, um, they're reconsidering pressing charges." He wore a tense smile, the only kind Remus had seen in the past day. He felt relief from the words, but an overwhelming guilt still pressed into his chest.

It was clear that James was uncomfortable talking about what happened. Remus knew he was trying to make him feel better, but James was just as uncomfortable as anyone else. They were starting to treat Remus like a time bomb, and if they said the wrong word then he would start bawling again. In truth, Remus did feel like he would break if he was told anymore negative information.

"So, Dumbledore brought by your homework," James said, trying to keep up conversation. A small stack of books, papers and quills lay at the foot of Remus's bed. He appreciated the gesture.

"I suppose you haven't started on any of it," Remus teased with a forced smile. James chuckled and shook his head.

"I was hoping you could help me while we wait for the mutt to get here."

Remus looked up at James. "Sirius? When is he getting here?"

James checked his watch, "Dumbledore said Sirius is supposed to drink the Polyjuice after he finishes his afternoon classes but…"

As if on cue, someone knocked on the locked hospital door. James walked over and cautiously opened it a crack. "Um, I think you have the wrong room Ma'am," he said, attempting to shut the door but a barefoot stuck itself between the door and the frame.

"No, I don't think so." Remus raised his brow at the deep, although womanly, voice. The woman must have made some sort of gesture because James suddenly doubled over in laughter.

"Oh, so sorry to be rude, Ma'am," he laughed, letting her inside, "I didn't realize your particular level of priority."

Remus's mouth dropped open at the sight of the obese woman. Standing at least 8 feet tall, her dark curls brushed the ceiling. Her beady eyes looked straight at Remus and her meaty mouth formed a frown. She looked back at James and crossed her huge arms over her voluptuous chest.

"He said I was going to turn into an American school boy. I can promise you that I am definitely not a boy anymore."

The comment confused Remus, but then he let out a genuine laugh. The absurdity left him with a wide smile on his face and tears of mirth in his eyes. "Floral dresses really do suit you!"

"Shut it, Moony," Sirius glared, but a smile peaked its way through and it wasn't long before all three of them were laughing.

Peter walked in holding a plate of food. He almost dropped the tray when he witnessed the scene before him.

"Look Peter, your mum's joining us for lunch," James said. Peter, too confused to be offended, just stared.

It wasn't long before Sirius transformed into his old body, and he conveniently found some of his clothes under Remus's bed (Dumbledore always seemed prepared). For a moment after Sirius got dressed, everyone grew still. Remus desperately wanted to keep up the charade of laughter, but it didn't last.

He played with his hands in his lap and listened to his own breathing. His thoughts inevitably turned to Kylie and her frail body wrapped in bandages. The air between the four of them, not quite appropriate for serious conversation, reminded Remus of his luckiness. Four awkward teenage boys, three of them there for the sole purpose of helping their fallen comrade.

"Ew," Sirius said, looking at a bag of Ice Mice, "Who sent you those?"

And so began the rest of the week full of jokes that weren't very funny and vein attempts to pretend that nothing was wrong.

* * *

So, did you like it? Too short? Probably. The next chapter will skip to the Trial. Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: If you're reading this, then you obviously must think this story is worth sitting through 4 chapters for. I own nothing. Thank you Rasa and my wonderful readers!

* * *

_ Remus stared at the hundreds of books on the library shelf, determined to find one with substantial information about Gillyweed and its uses. He scanned each title, row by row, and pursed his lips in thought. He walked over to the next case of books and crouched down to examine their spines. With painstaking scrutiny, he moved up the shelves and then finally let out a long sigh of frustration. Moving onto the next case of books, he glanced around the library and saw a rather attractive girl reading '_Rare Plants and their Mystical Abilities'_. 'The one time I wait last minute to do a paper…' Remus thought bitterly at his situation. He bit his lip as he contemplated his next move._

_ The girl, he recognized, was Kylie Anderson, but he'd never really spoken to her so it would be rude to ask a favor. Besides the fact that the only girl that Remus had ever spoken to was Lily, and that was only when he listened to her rant about how idiotic James Potter was; Remus seemed to have temporarily lost the capacity for normal speech. Thus, he didn't do much of the talking. He knew he had to get that book somehow, but he didn't have enough courage to ask to borrow it. Surely there was another copy. But after ten minutes of searching, Remus knew the inevitable would come soon._

_Remus checked his watch and felt time growing short. His insides twisting into pretzels, he paced in a tight circle and gave himself a small pep talk. As pathetic as he felt, he knew nothing else would work. Pulling together all of his strength, he walked over to Kylie's otherwise empty table._

"_Um, hello," he started, inwardly smacking himself. Kylie looked up from the book, surprised. _

"_Hi," she replied. Somehow, the innocence in her voice made Remus more nervous at such a simple task._

"_I'm really sorry to bother you, but you're reading the only copy of that book." There was a pause, and then Remus realized that he forgot to explain himself. "I've got a paper due on Gillyweed by Thursday, so…" He wanted to scream, he sounded so rude. "Sorry, I mean, um…" _

_She laughed uncomfortably. "Um, well I'm comparing two rare plants for a paper that's due Thursday too. Bubotuber and Whomping Willow."_

_Remus shifted, putting his hands in his pockets awkwardly. He had no idea what to say. "I know a lot about those plants, maybe if I um, well, helped you write your paper, then er, I could borrow the book really soon?"_

_Kylie seemed to consider this for a moment, and then nodded. "Ok, I guess."_

"_Ok, right," Remus pulled up a chair and sat down, feeling incredibly out of place. Peter was the only one he ever tutored, and that wasn't particularly nerve racking. Talking to a girl, especially a pretty one, however, gave Remus all sorts of discomfort; his red and orange striped sweater suddenly felt smaller. _

"_Oh, I'm Kylie by the way."_

"_I know," Remus replied, and then nearly facepalmed. _'Yeah, that didn't sound stalkerish at all.'_ "I mean, I saw you play keeper last year and your name was announced and I have good eye sight and, um, I-I…"_

_Kylie giggled. "Its ok, I know you're Remus Lupin. You're always hanging around Sirius Black."_

_Remus smiled that she knew who he was, but then frowned when she explained why. _

"_Don't worry, I'm not one of his groupies." _

_Remus raised a brow. "What?"_

_Kylie looked confused as well. "You don't know? He's got a little fan club that near enough documents his every move. Meetings are on Friday nights, I've been invited several times."_

_At this, Remus let out a loud laugh (Loud enough for a few students next to them to 'shh!') "Seriously? They swoon to the point of stalking him?"_

_Kylie looked around and then lowered her voice. "I hear they snuck into the Infirmary when he was sick with Dragon Pox and stole pus-covered tissues."_

_Remus's jaw dropped. Kylie could only hold her straight face for a few moments more before breaking into a wide grin. "Only joking about that part!" she laughed, "Well, at least I hope so."_

_Remus smiled, smitten at her own beautiful smile._

* * *

In a series of six days, Remus lost 10 lbs and most of the colour in his face. Already a pale boy, the change worried the nurses; Dumbledore assured them, however, that he would be back to normal in no time. Dumbledore also relayed much information to Remus about the trial and Kylie's parents throughout the week. Kylie didn't wake until Saturday, the day before the trial, and Remus spent most of the day retching because of the wails he heard down the hall.

"The most important thing is that you don't cry," instructed Janice, Remus's defense attorney. Hired personally by Dumbledore, she, along with the rest of the people involved in the case, swore secrecy of the subject material. Even Remus knew his chances of returning to a normal life would be shattered should the case become public.

"The jury never believes tears, so you have to be strong throughout your testimony. As long as the jury is convinced that it was Kylie who broke the law and not you, you'll be able to return to Hogwarts soon."

Remus wanted to believe her, but by Sunday morning he lost his motivation to even participate in the trial anymore. At 10 am, someone knocked his door. Almost completely healed, he walked over and opened the door. When he saw a thin, blonde standing outside, he felt his knees go weak.

"K-Kylie," he whispered, eyes wide. Her face was much thinner, more feral. Her eyes, once chocolate brown, now looked identical to his, bright amber. She didn't sport nearly as many bandages as when he saw her sleeping days ago, which sent a small relief to his stomach.

"Remus."

He knew that neither of them hadn't a clue where to start. His hands shook at his sides as he stared at her. A million different emotions flooded through him, each spawning the next. The wolf inside of him was elated by her presence, and jumped joyously inside of his head.

"I don't understand," she whispered, "Why do I suddenly feel happy now that I'm here?" She paused, "I should hate you."

Remus visibly flinched and took a step back at her words. Ishouldhateyou. Suddenly, he wondered why everyone was trying to get him cleared of charges when he obviously committed a terrible, terrible crime.

"The, um, w-w-wolf," he replied, but his mouth was too dry to explain anymore. He didn't want to talk; he didn't want Kylie there. He could feel thousands of different emotions going on within her as well, which intensified his stomach ache.

"Kylie, there you are!" her father called from down the hallway. Remus took another step back into his room. When her father walked over to her, he looked inside Remus's room and froze when he saw the boy. Remus uncomfortably shifted his weight from foot to foot and looked away from the two. "You, um, have to get ready. The trial is at one and you haven't even showered yet." He put his hand on the small of her back and led her back down to her room.

Remus sat on his bed, put his hands in his sandy hair, and squeezed his head until Janice entered with fresh clothes and a shower ticket.

* * *

"Case number 87463, Remus Lupin and the Andersons versus the Department of Magical Creatures," Announced Judge Harper, reading off of parchment. No one besides Kylie and her family, Remus, Dumbledore, and the lawyers were present in the courtroom. Dumbledore had forbidden Peter, James and Sirius to attend. He pretended that they weren't associated with the case whatsoever. "Mr. Williams, please state your case."

Mr. Williams, a burly man with a handlebar mustache, walked to the center of the room. Dressed in dress robes, like Janice, he turned to the judge and jury. "Remus Lupin attacked and infected Kylie Anderson last Sunday night. Kylie and her family have failed to press charges against Mr. Lupin, but my client fails to see how such serious charges could be dropped."

Remus's had battled his blood pressure since putting on his finest clothes, two hours early. At the words, he felt his heart beating faster and faster as he hoped with all his might that he would get off clean.

"I would like to call my client, Travis Holland, to the stand."

Travis, a balding man with hair as white as Remus's face, took to the stand. He shook his head when he walked passed Remus, and Remus pushed himself farther back into his wooden chair.

"Mr. Holland, would you please explain to the jury why Mr. Lupin cannot possibly walk away from this case?"

Travis drew a shaky breath and nodded. "Crime is crime; it's consequences cannot simply be avoided by the victim not wanting to press charges."

"And what is the punishment of a werewolf attacking a human?"

Travis had a pained expression on his face. "Life in Azkaban." Remus knew pity when he saw it.

"Well, that's all that really needs to be said then," said Mr. Williams smugly. He turned on his heel to Janice. "Any questions?"

Mr. Williams sat in his chair as Janice walked up to the stand. "Mr. Holland, are there any exceptions from the punishment?"

Travis nodded, "If the werewolf wasn't violating any of the Ministry's laws, then they have a chance of having half a sentence at best. No one has ever walked from similar case though." He met Remus's eyes for a minute and looked sadly back at Janice.

"What laws, that you are aware of, were broken during the attack?"

"He was within 3 miles of a human when transformed, endangering not only the victim but the entire population of Hogwarts."

Remus closed his eyes and bit his lip at the words. They confirmed his fear of transforming near Hogwarts for the past 5 years.

"What if I could prove that Remus was within his boundaries during the attack?"

Travis looked at her skeptically. "Well, then I guess that's an entirely different case."

Janice smiled and pulled some parchment out of her robes. She held it up for the jury to see. "This, Mr. Holland, is the documented evidence that a private party found in The Forbidden Forest on Hogwarts grounds. It says here that there were traces of blood found exactly 5.3 miles from Hogwarts Castle, where all students were supposed to be sleeping."

"That's preposterous!" cried Williams, standing up from his seat. Judge Harper silenced him quickly.

"Thankyou Mr. Holland. I'd like to call Ms Kylie Anderson to the stand."

Kylie stood up, her blonde hair braided back to her mid shoulder. She had a limp as she walked to the stand, and Remus immediately knew where she received it.

"Ms. Anderson, could you tell the jury what happened last Sunday night?"

Kylie's face, as white as Remus's, struggled to hold courage. Remus thought she looked extremely confused. He didn't blame her; if he was testifying for Greyback, he knew he would throw up all over the judge.

"I, um," she hesitated, obviously not sure where to begin. "My cat, he's stuck in my dorm all day and I wanted to take him outside for some fresh air."

Remus's mind was sent reeling, his eyes wide.

"_Animals like being able to run around in big places. Maybe, if you, uh, took him outside every once in a while, then he wouldn't want to run off."_

"_That makes sense, thanks, I'll try that sometime soon."_

"But he ran off into the forest right before curfew. I… I went after him but I couldn't find him. I got lost for hours; I couldn't find my way back to Hogwarts. Then," she hesitated and stared down at her hands. "I heard howls and this, this huge beast came out of nowhere." She blinked profusely and fidgeted with her hands, clothes, and hair. "I-I tried to run, but it, he attacked me. I don't… I don't really remember what happened after that…"

Remus wanted to cry. But he remembered Janice's insistence and grounded his teeth.

Janice looked like she wanted to take sympathy on Kylie, but her job was more important. "Ms. Anderson, is the Forbidden Forest out of bounds for all Hogwarts students?"

Kylie nodded.

"And you were out past curfew?"

Kylie nodded again.

"Thank you, that's all I needed to know."

Mr. Williams walked back up to question Kylie and Janice sat down.

"Ms. Anderson, could you describe the attack in a bit more detail?" Remus could smell the satisfaction Mr. Williams had in the question, and it made him want to throw up.

"Objection!" Janice said, standing up. "The fact that Kylie was attacked is established; a more graphic description would be irrelevant."

Judge Harper agreed with Janice, and Mr. Williams had to move onto his other questions.

"Did you realize that if you walked into the forest, that you could be put into a life-threatening situation on Hogwarts Grounds?" His face was smug again, but not for long.

"Professor Dumbledore warns us every year, that's why it's called the Forbidden Forest."

Mr. Williams' eyes widened. Remus almost smiled at the backfire.

"So you previously felt safe at Hogwarts, when the Headmaster constantly tells you of fatal dangers in a forest not a mile from the castle?" He didn't look like he believed her.

Kylie nodded. She opened her mouth to speak but seemed to have trouble getting out the words. "Yes sir, the a-attack was my fault too."

Remus's hands began to shake as Mr. Williams stared at Kylie with disbelief. He began to chuckle desperately and look at the jury.

"This girl is obviously under some sort of werewolf spell. No one in their right mind would say something like that!"

"Objection!"

"Mr. Williams, if you have any more questions for Ms. Anderson then by all means, ask her. But if not, can we please move on with this case?"

Mr. Williams ran a hand through his thick, dark hair and sat back down in his chair.

Janice walked back up. "I'd like to call Mr. Remus Lupin to the stand."

"Objection!" cried Mr. Williams immediately. "Besides the fact that he's barely human, he wasn't conscious when committing the attack, and won't have any recollection of the event. His testimony is not credible by any means."

Judge Harper gave Mr. Williams a glare that made Remus assume that Dumbledore had hand-picked her for the case. "Mr. Williams, sit down."

He backed off, but glared at Remus. It wasn't until the courtroom grew quiet that Remus realized it was his turn on the stand. Suddenly, he felt a huge need to run away, disappear. He stood up, knees wobbly and head spinning. When he sat in the stand, he felt like a specimen under a microscope. 12 jurors, Kylie, Kylie's parents, Travis Holland, Mr. Williams and Dumbledore all had their eyes on him. He looked for a comforting face, and bit his lip when he found the crowd empty of his father. His dad only returned one of the owls with a simple 'Busy, will visit later.'

"Mr. Lupin, can you tell me what happened that night?" Janice asked, her voice soft, yet stern.

Remus stared at her, pulling at the hem of his dress robes. "I, um, I…" he started, unable to piece his thoughts together. "I went t-to the Shack that I always t-transform in, one exactly f-f-four miles from the school." He took a deep breath and looked down at his hands. "I transformed and w-w-woke up three days later."

"Thank you, Remus,"

"But," he interrupted, "I sometimes g-get dreams that the, um, the w-wolf puts in my head and I saw…" _Don't cry, don't cry_ "I s-saw everything, it m-matched up to what Kylie said." His lip quivered uncontrollably as he thought over his next words. "I d-d-didn't mean to hurt anyone," _Pathetic, don't you dare start crying. _"I w-was in my b-boundaries the whole time; h-humans aren't supposed to be near the Forest. I just…." _Here it comes…_ "I-I'm so sorry," he cried, looking at Kylie and her family. He sobbed and put his face in his hands. Reverting to a childlike state, he only wanted his mommy and daddy. "I-I'll n-n-never be ab-ble to tell y-you how s-s-sorry I am."

Janice gave Remus a sad smile. "Thank you, Remus, you can leave the stand."

"Wait!" Mr. Williams said, standing back up. "He's just acting in order to get sympathy from the jury. Remus, did Janice tell you to cry up here?"

Remus shook his head vigorously and looked up at Mr. Williams. "N-No, she t-told me not to."

* * *

Hours later, the jury returned with the verdict, and everyone gathered back into the courtroom.

"We, the jury, proclaim Remus Lupin to be not guilty in the case against the Department of Magical Creatures."

Remus's knees gave out and he fell back into his chair. Janice hugged him until he couldn't breathe, but he felt numb. Smiling felt foreign to him, but he smiled anyways to appease Janice. He looked around and just saw the back of the Andersons' robes as they left the courtroom.

* * *

Applause? Yes, Remus walked away from the case. Yay him! Did you like it? Just push that button and speak all of your importance. Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I have, inevitably, fallen into the procrastination of all fanfiction writers. I apologize for my absence, but the story will go on. Thank you all for the reviews, I really appreciate them. And, of course, a huge thanks goes to my Beta reader, Rasa Von Taubla

I own nothing. NOTHING. I Don't Even Have SHOES to Wear. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

The four of them (Kylie, Remus, James and Peter) didn't return to school until the following Wednesday. Kylie had to go through registration in the Ministry before being legally allowed to go back to school. Remus grimaced at the thought; he knew the terrible pain that that caused, both physically and emotionally. She became a number, 16277, and it was branded into her forearm with silver to ensure a permanent mark.

Dumbledore wanted all of them to return at one time, and kept up the story that they had all caught a very contagious illness. Of course, the story had been greatly embellished over the course of the week and a half that the four went missing, so much so that upon their arrival, the Slytherin team was crestfallen to find that James Potter would not, in fact, be disqualified from Quidditch because of his third arm. Lily was one of the few to actually confront Remus about the incident when the two ran into each other in the library.

"Have you caught up on all of your homework?" she asked, holding books about potions techniques against her rounded hip. She had a scrutinizing look in her brilliant green eyes, and her brows formed what looked like concern, but may have just been one of those complex emotions Remus knew only girls like Lily experienced.

"Nearly everything, except I've put off the potions essay until right now," he said, motioning to the piles of books on his right and the parchment in front of him on the table. Lily sat down next to him and skimmed what he had already written.

"This sounds about right so far, but you have to chop the grubworms with the serrated blade, not the smooth one," she corrected, sitting down next to him.

It felt odd to Remus to be corrected on Potions homework. Not that he was great at the subject, but that it felt so _normal_. On his first day back, he felt everything but normal. He used the rest of his unfinished work to distract himself from all of the abnormality that he felt. In the back of his mind, he knew it was almost absurd to sit in Hogwarts' library and do potions homework after everything that happened.

"Oh, thanks," he replied, changing the words accordingly with his magical quill.

"I know, you know." The statement was matter-of-factly.

"Know what?" Remus asked, pretending that his insides hadn't suddenly been dumped into a bucket of ice.

"About where you go when you miss school," she explained, her voice considerably lower, but it had a note of offense in it. "You've been absent once a month since first year, I can't believe you thought your cover up would work on me."

Remus stared at her, eyes wide. "Wh-what?"

She sighed. "The amber eyes, the pre-mature wrinkles, your over-protectiveness of your friends. Remus, it's obvious that you're a werewolf."

Remus began to shake at her words, his body locking up in fear.

"I can't believe you thought I was so stupid, always saying that you were going to go see your ill mother." She crossed her arms and looked him in the eye. Her expression changed from snobbish to concern when she noticed Remus's anxiety. It switched back within moments.

"I'm not prejudice or anything, you should know that."

"I, uh," Remus started, his brain malfunctioning.

"But what I can't figure out is why you and your moronic friends were missing for so long." She bit her lip and stared at Remus, who felt rather ill. "And furthermore, I really have no idea how Kylie Anderson could be involved whatsoever. I've never seen you two around each other at all and…"

"Lily," Remus said finally as he got his nerve back If she would just stop talking. "St-stop, please. This is… A lot… I don't…"

Concerned flashed back onto her face. "I'm sorry, I got carried away, I didn't realize…"

"No, its ok. I just thought…"

"No one else knows."

"When did you figure it out?"

"3rd year when we had to write that essay about how to spot a werewolf."

"Oh."

They sat in an awkward silence for several moments. "Are you going to tell me why the four of you were gone for so long? I doubt it had to do with a rare illness that Dumbledore mentioned more than once."

Remus immediately looked down at his unfinished essay and shook his head. "I-I really don't want to talk about it."

Lily seemed a bit flustered by the answer, but backed off.

Remus closed his book and stood up, feeling the amount of confrontation and awkwardness had been sufficient for the next week and a half. "I've got to, uh, go. I'll see you around, I guess."

"Bye."

"Bye."

* * *

"What's wrong with you, moons?" Sirius asked in his oh-so-oblivious way of pretending that the last week never happened. Remus groaned into his pillow as he lie face-down on the four poster. His sandy hair circled his pillow and he didn't feel like getting up to give Sirius a proper reply anytime soon.

Remus felt James and Peter tense up at the question, obviously hoping that he wasn't upset about Kylie. The three of them did a good job of not bringing up anything, and Remus was appreciative but they hadn't been able to have a conversation without treating Remus like a ticking time bomb.

"Lily knows," he muffled into the white material. Immediately, he could feel the tension in the room.

"Knows what?" Sirius asked.

"Why I miss a few days of school each month."

"What?" Sirius asked, jumping down from his own bed and onto the red carpet. "How?"

Remus rolled onto his back and sat up, drawing his knees to his chest. He sighed and looked at his comforter as he spoke. "She figured it out in third year. I can't blame her; it's a pretty obvious thing to see but…" He trailed off.

"She didn't, um," James started with an uncomfortable look on his handsome features.

"She didn't tell anyone else," Remus interrupted with a shake of his head. He opened his mouth to tell them of her further inquiries, but quickly shut it again.

"Yeah," said Sirius with an uncaring eyes, "she kept trying to ask me where the four of you were, but I found ways to avoid her when spending my time more… effectively."

Remus cocked his head to the side in a very wolf-like manner. "What _did_ you do when we were gone?' He had nearly forgotten that Sirius had been alone in the dorm room for almost the entire time that he had spent in the hospital.

A flash of surprise ran across his face before going back to nonchalance. "Nothing of great importance," he sighed dramatically and fell back onto his bed, "perhaps I would've been more entertained if Dumbledore had permitted me to see my dearest friends in such troubling times." He draped a hand over his forehead for effect.

Remus arched a brow. "Surely you did something besides being cooped up in here."

Sirius grinned mischievously before hopping up and shrugging. "Well, Moony, use your unending intelligence to figure it out while I bewitch the Slytherin team mid-flight." He paused and looked expectedly at James and Peter as well, "Care to join me on my most exciting endeavor?"

To Remus's surprise, James shook his head and picked up his bag. "No, I've actually got to finish all the work I'm behind on."

Sirius looked at him, dumbfounded in disbelief, and Peter simply widened his eyes.

James shrugged, "I need to do well on my OWLs." He looked increasingly uncomfortable with Sirius's gaze.

Sirius scoffed. "You need to _do well on your OWLs_? Fine. I suppose it will just be Peter and I. You two can stay here and be responsible. Come along then, Wormtail."

With that, the two left Remus and James to work silently on their unfinished Potions essays.

* * *

Was it worth the wait? I'll never know unless you tell me!


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6. This one is a bit scattered, but don't worry, I'm not crazy. I have a plan (I think). Suggestions for an overall plot would be great, or even just small plots. Special thanks to my wonderful readers (you) and reviewers. And, as always, to Rasa!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. At all. If anything, he owns me. My soul, at least.

Remus didn't talk to Kylie until the two were summoned to Dumbledore's office four days before the next full moon. Remus had suspected what the meeting was about shortly after he returned to the school.

"Are both of you comfortable with the arrangements?" their Headmaster asked after discussing the safety of the two transforming in the Shack together.

"I, um, we won't hurt each other, right?" asked Kylie, who looked paler than usual. Remus noticed several bandages on her hands that weren't there during the trial. She scratched her right forearm occasionally, which always made Remus bite his lip and look away from her.

"Werewolves are almost incapable of hurting those in their pack unless one steps out of line. I assure you that your safety is our priority, Miss Anderson."

Remus understood the truth in Dumbledore's words. Because he bit her, she assumed a place in his pack which explained why they were suddenly, and uncomfortably, happier when around each other.

She tugged at the sleeves of her Ravenclaw robes and looked at the floor. Her blonde bangs fell in front of her face as she nodded.

"And due to, ah, modesty, Madame Pomfrey will provide hospital gowns to change into before your transformations." Remus could have sworn he saw a twinkle in Dumbledore's already bright eyes—he may have never in his life felt this awkward.

Remus could feel his cheeks redden and was genuinely surprised that Dumbledore made things even more uncomfortable than they already were by winking at Remus when Kylie looked away.

"Well," Dumbledore said, standing up with a smile, "I do believe it's lunch time, so I mustn't ignore my rumblies."

Remus and Kylie exchanged their goodbyes with their headmaster and left the office. The two walked in complete silence down the first hallway. Remus had his hands in his shabby pockets while Kylie kept wringing hers. What was he supposed to say to her? He played a short scenario out in his head—it ended up with both of them dead. They reached an intersection and Kylie turned left while Remus knew the fastest way to his common room was right.

He knew they couldn't ignore each other forever so he stopped walking and turned to address her. He opened his mouth as she walked the opposite direction when—

**BAM!**

Bodies collided, arms and legs tangled together as Remus and another student rolled back down the hallway towards Dumbledore's office. If Remus didn't have his werewolf senses, he would've been sure that the person that ran into him was Sirius. The boy, now pushing himself off the ground to a standing position, had jet black hair that lay in different directions on his head from the fall. His pale skin and straight white teeth had the same haughty good looks effect as Sirius. He even wore Gryffindor robes that were ripped in several places.

"Regulus?" Remus asked, clutching his now pounding head.

"What the bloody hell did Sirius do?" he asked, grinding his teeth and clenching his hands at his sides. He smelled overwhelmingly like a variety of perfumes, and had smudges of pinks and reds on his face.

Remus looked down the hallway but didn't see Kylie. His heart sank but he looked at Sirius's brother with confusion. "What are you talking about?"

The boy, panting, momentarily looked behind himself before turning back to Remus. "I just got _attacked_ by a hoard of girls." His eyes, livid, kept glancing around the corridor.

Remus blinked. "What?"

Regulus groaned and then glared at Remus. "They were chasing your stupid friend but he saw me, minding my own business, transfigured my robes to this garbage, and took off running the other direction. The infatuated flocked me from then on, insisting that I was him!"

Remus frowned, and then chuckled. "His fan club?"

"This isn't funny, Lupin. It was like he was some sort of god. A golden god. And they were his temple harlots."

Remus wasn't particularly interested in the circumstances; rather he was impressed by the complexity of the transfiguration. He raised a brow at the only difference between his emblem and Regulus's: The lion had only three claws on his front paw.

"Well," Regulus said with a huff as he turned to leave, "I'm going back to my dorm before I get physically assaulted again. Tell him to keep me out of his business."

He walked off with his hands rubbing the smudges off of his face.

"I saw your brother today," Remus commented at dinner, interrupting James' spiel about his need for a new broom. The table suddenly became very quiet and Remus realized he had broken one of the rules. He felt like a thief under Hammurabi Code. Never bring up Sirius's family.

Sirius stopped chewing his steak for a moment with a scowl, but then resumed, through gnashed chomps. "What did the git want?"

Hannah, a second year Ravenclaw who had the balls (or lack thereof…ovarian fortitude?) to sit across from Sirius at the Gryffindor table rather than her own, giggled. She did this whenever Sirius chewed food or spoke words or gulped pumpkin juice. Since he did these things so often, Remus wondered how she was managing to breathe.

"He said you had been chased by a bunch of girls, and that you saw him and made said girls believe that he was you," Remus explained as he sliced his bloodied meat into cleanly cut, symmetrical pieces.

Sirius put on a cocky grin and shook his head, "Preposterous, Moony: my overwhelmingly good looks are impossible to match. Although I do remember running from a mob of girls, so I assume that your words are true."

Hannah giggled.

James choked on his pumpkin juice. "You were what? Why? My dear friend, you couldn't have possibly upset more than four girls at once, at least not enough for them to chase after you."

Sirius's cocky grin widened. "Quite the contrary. They weren't upset in the slightest. Actually, they were just trying to express their undying love for me, but I really didn't have the time to handle ten girls at once."

Remus, who already had a suspicion at what Sirius had actually done, just raised his brow and continued to eat.

Hannah giggled.

"I'm not sure I believe you," James said with a skeptical look.

Sirius leaned over and whispered into James's ear. "I put a few drops of a love potion in some chocolates and gave them to a group to share. Fantastic outcome, don't you think?"

Hannah giggled.

James looked momentarily surprised, and then rolled his eyes. He clapped his friend on the shoulder and feigned disappointment. "What a pity that the only positive attention you get from girls is fabricated at your own hand. If only you were more attractive such as one like myself…"

With his suspicion confirmed, Remus tuned out of the conversation and turned his attention to Hannah, who was getting on Peter's nerves. When she initially sat down, the three of them acknowledged her politely and went back to what they were doing. Now Peter was scooting farther and farther away from her (and farther and farther into a nervous looking first year) after each giggle.

"So, um, Hannah," Remus started as politely as possible, "What brings you to our table?"

Remus reasoned that she might have answered if she wasn't too busy doing something of increasing importance: staring at Sirius as if he was an entire motion picture, in and of himself. Surely that wasn't a bit of drool on the corner of her mouth?

Remus failed his first test on the day of the full moon. His friends weren't very surprised, as the material was solely on the topics covered during Remus's absence. Nonetheless, Remus spent the remainder of his Transfiguration class frowning and glaring at the low marks on the parchment. He kept going over the answers in his head, realizing that he had made very tiny mistakes throughout. A misspelled spell there, a wrong colour there. If he hadn't been distracted with tonight… Professor McGonagall asked him to stay after class for a word.

"This isn't like you," she said after the rest of his classmates left. No doubt his friends were listening at the door.

He felt the pain of disappointment press against his chest as he bit his lip and stared at the ground. He wasn't like James and Peter, who tried to make up excuses for why they performed poorly. He took the responsibility as maturely as possible and just agreed to everything she had to say.

"I am aware, however, of the…" she searched for the correct words, "Unusual circumstances that you've been presented with this past month, and your upcoming visit to your mother. This will be taken into consideration."

"No, Professor," he said immediately, "That wouldn't be fair to the other students."

She almost looked surprised at his interjection. "You can retake the test next Monday and the scores will be averaged together for a final grade."

"But,"

"Good day, Mr. Lupin. You are dismissed."

Remus left the classroom with his head down and his teeth clenched.

"I don't see why you're so upset," Sirius said when Remus entered the corridor. "You're getting a chance to fix your grade. I assumed you'd be excited."

"Probably just the PMS, right Moons?" James asked, attempting to keep the mood light.

Remus didn't say anything, but inside he felt like he'd been personally insulted by a teacher. He didn't _want_ special treatment. He didn't _want_ to be pitied. But he just shrugged as he walked back to the dorms with his friends. "Yeah, just PMS."

Next chapter is the Full Moon! I'm not sure when it'll be up, but hopefully you won't have to wait for several months like before. Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

HELLO! So, summer has been awesome which is why I haven't updated in... forever. But don't worry, this will be finished eventually. I've got a busy schedule so the updates won't be very frequent there either.

Thanks always to my wonderful readers and reviewers, and Rasa! Enjoy.

Several hours before sunset, Remus packed up a neatly folded set of clothes and headed towards the door of the dorm. He suddenly froze. "Um," he started as he turned to look at his roommates.

They looked up from their various activities.

"Are you joining me tonight?" Remus asked without much certainty. He wasn't 100% sure how the full moon would go with Kylie, and he didn't want to risk hurting another student. "Like a dolt," he now thought, he hadn't given their situation much thought over the past month.

"Of course," Sirius replied thickly, who had only just walked in several minutes ago ("Is that perfume on your oh-so-manly body?"), and then went back to playing exploding snap with James.

"But,"

James looked almost as uncertain as Remus, which was saying something. The four sat in uncomfortable silence for a few moments before Peter piped up. "There's going to be two of you...so...maybe it's not such a good idea..."

Remus's heart sunk like a beazoar to the bottom of a potion.. He didn't want Kylie to hurt herself the way he did when he was shut up in the Shack, but he knew that his friends probably wouldn't be able to control the both of them.

"Nonsense, everything will be dandy!" Sirius exclaimed, with his usual blind confidence- nearly falling over while getting up from his game.

"How about I see how it goes this time, then perhaps you can join me on the next?" Remus said, more of a statement than a question.

James, who seemed to be the mediator between Sirius's complete irrationality and Remus's over-cautiousness, shook his head. "We'll be there, but we won't let either of you out of the Shack." He grinned, "Then, neither of you will look like you've been attacked by a dragon, and there are no potentially injured students."

Sirius sighed with disapproval. "It'll be fine, and much more fun, to go out into Hogsmeade. Why stay cooped up?"

"I prefer James's idea," Remus said as he walked towards the door again. "I shall see you shortly?"

"We miss you already," said Peter, and Remus left.

Remus met up with Kylie a few corridors away from the hospital wing. They looked at eachother awkwardly; one with a brave face, the other with anticipation. They exchanged an awkward greeting and continued walking, each holding their own bundle of clothes.

Lily Evans walked by, her nose buried in a book on Dark Arts, and looked up briefly at the two of them. "Say hello to your mother for me," she commented smartly and walked past them. Not two seconds later, Remus heard a sort of strangled gasp and a book hit the stone floor. He turned around. Lily's face held an expression of horrified realization. It changed to disbelief, relief, confusion and then back to horror within only a few seconds.

"You…" she whispered, looking back and forth between Kylie and Remus. Remus's heart sank to the soles of his shoes as all the colour drained out of his face. Kylie looked at Lily, confused.

Before Kylie or Remus could say anything, Lily picked up her book and hurried off in the other direction. Kylie looked back to Remus with the even more confusion in her soft features, her perfectly manicured eyebrow completing the x-raying expression Remus was more familiar with seeing on the headmaster.

"Don't worry about it," he said dismissively, but inside he was crushed. Lily meant a lot to him, and he was absolutely certain her realization had cost him their friendship. He wouldn't know until he spoke with her later, but he was convinced for the moment. He put on a brave face for Kylie and the two of them made their way to the Infirmary.

By the time the two had changed into hospital gowns and gotten to the Shack, Remus thought the awkward silence would never end. He, of course, had no idea what to say to her. 'Sorry what I did to you is about to cause you incredible amounts of pain?' That probably wouldn't turn into a good conversation, though he wished it could.

"I put my clothes on top of that dresser in the corner, so they won't get ripped to bits." He immediately frowned at the wording of his statement. A bit of shame and blush started to settle in his cheeks from the mutilated room. Kylie looked fearfully at the scratch and bite marks that covered the furniture and floor, meeting his eye again after each new horror.

"Don't worry," he added quickly and blusteringly, "My friends will make sure we don't hurt ourselves or each other."

Kylie looked him in the eye, amber meeting umber, completely alarmed.

_Dammit._

"Um, I'll explain that later." He probably should have mentioned that before, he cursed himself. "You can, um, sit down. It'll be a bit."

So they sat in silence. In truth, Remus couldn't hope for anything more than that. He wasn't sure which he would've preffered for his first full moon: the topical knowledge of what was going to happen, or sweet obliviousness. At five years old, his mother hadn't told him a thing as to why he needed to sleep in the recently built cellar for that night. It might've been better if he had known, but he really couldn't blame his parents for keeping it from him. How would they explain something like that to a five year old?

"What do you mean, your friends will make sure we don't hurt each other?" Kylie asked, glaring.

Remus sighed a ran a tired hand through his tired hair. "Werewolves are more keen on um, human blood. Sirius, James and Peter are uh..." How should he put this?

"Animagi." Kylie finished with an arched brow in that familiar expression.

Remus frowned at her. "How did you know?"

Kylie looked at the floor and didn't answer, kicking the rough wood.

"Oh..." Remus whispered, realizing she must have seen Sirius change on the night of the attack.

"You know, you should really keep a handle on Sirius," she remarked suddenly, perking up, though not really happy.

Remus blinked. "What?"

"He just needs to learn that most girls are trying to have a friends-with-benefits relationship like he is. He's really playing with quite a few girls' emotions, and thats a low blow."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure you do. Reg said he ran into you when being chased after a couple of days ago."

Remus raised a brow at her use of 'Reg'. "Reg?"

"Yes, Regulus Black."

"I know that, I mean, are the two of your friends of some sort?" Remus couldn't imagine Regulus having friends outside of his Slytherin group.

"He's not as pure-blood maniac as everyone thinks, you know. It just must be a bit of pressure to be the good kid in the family."

Remus figured Regulus always had his heart in the right place, but with Sirius's constant complaints about his younger counter part, he didn't try to convince anyone else of that.

"I wouldn't know; I'm an only child."

The two fell into silence yet again.

"I have a little brother," she whispered suddenly as the two continued to sit on the wooden floor. Her tone held little tension, but more of an overly relaxed state.

Remus made eye contact with her before looking back at the floor, his chin on his knees.

"He's ten. He likes to ask questions and he knows I was in the hospital a month ago. Mom and Dad had to get my Uncle Alan to babysit him for the week that I was there."

Remus felt a sick sort of confusion arise in the pit of his stomach, or maybe that was his dinner.

"He's shown signs of being a wizard, and he loves looking at the pictures in my textbooks. I think my mom was hoping that he would be a muggle like her because she must feel left out." She paused and started to draw invisible doodles on the floor with her finger. "He says he's going to be an adventurer. He has this book he carries around with him, his 'Adventure Book'. He has the most creative imagination, writing up overly exaggerated tales of his day. It's almost full, so I'm buying him another one for Christmas. He's going to get all of them published and make millions of galleons." She started to giggle and she leaned back onto her palms and looked up at the decrepit ceiling. "He's told me all about what adventures hes going to go on when he gets older. He's going to fight vampires and giants and werewolves." She sardonically giggled a little louder and shook her head. "Did you hear that? My ten year old little brother is going to fight werewolves."

Remus's feeling of confusion turned into overwhelming nausea. He watched her lean over her knees and laugh harder until she calmed herself down. She wrinkled her forehead and gripped the floor as she stared at her knees as if trying doing calculus. Looking up at Remus with watery eyes, she choked, "How am I supposed to tell him that his sister is one of the monsters in his books?"

Before Remus could even fathom an answer, a muscle in his arm twitched. He looked up, alarmed.

"What?" she asked, sensing his panic.

Another twitch stuck his thigh. Then another in his back. Kylie must have started feeling the twitches too, as she started rubbing her arms and legs.

"Its happening, isn't it?" she whispered, her voice cracking at the end of her question. She didn't wait for Remus to respond. "Is it going to hurt?"

Remus knew that Kylie was a very well-read student with high grades. She had undoubtedly written several essays or read books about werewolves and transformations. Remus knew that she already had a good idea of what was about to happen to her, but all the same he was screaming on the inside.

_"Is it going to hurt?"_ Remus's ears were ringing with that question. He finally understood how his friends could look at him without cringing. He didn't see any sort of monster inside Kylie, which must be truth for him as well. He wanted to tell her no, that it didn't hurt, that it was just like falling asleep. He wanted to explain that she'd be a bit sore when she woke up, but that was just because her muscles weren't used to stretching like they were. She would have no recollection of what happened the previous night, physically or mentally. Her own screams wouldn't echo in her ears for weeks after the first couple of full moons as she really started to understand what it was like to be a werewolf. He wanted to lie and lie to her until his face turned blue and his lungs gave out. But nature beat him to it.

Kylie moaned in pain as the twitches got more and more violent. With her eyes shut, she grabbed Remus's hand and squeezed it tightly. He squeezed it back as he tried to figure out how much time they had left before it got really bad.

Suddenly, Kylie looked up at him with wide, panicked, eyes. It looked like the reality of the situation had just dawned on her. Her breathing got very quick, very fast.

"Wait," she whispered, looking around wildly, "No! I don't want to do this, wait, make it stop!"

Remus's heart shattered more and more with each word. He ground his teeth together to keep from crying out at the transformation that had begun.

"Please," she begged, her eyes welling up with tears, "Make it stop! I don't want to do this, Remus, it hurts, make it stop!"

Remus pulled her close to him and wrapped a shaking arm around her shoulders. "We're going to be ok," he whispered, trying to sound as convincing as possible, "we're going to be ok." He didn't know what he was doing, or how he was doing it. It was some sort of instinct to protect her and make her feel safe, something that was impossible at the moment. He held her and did his best not to grunt from the increasing pain inside of his body.

"Make it stop!" she sobbed into his chest.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into her blonde hair, "I'm so sorry."

And then she started to scream.

Remus couldn't remember much after that.

So what did you think? Lemme know :)

's Good...leaves the reader interested in what's to come


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: HEY! So. Yeah, I was gone for three months again buuuuuut I FINALLY HAVE A REALLY REALLY GOOD IDEA WHERE THIS STORY IS GOING. Enough with the cap locks. Anyways, I figured I needed to point something out that hopefully won't make you lose all interest in this story. Despite it being 'Remus and Sirius', this story is NOT slash. I'm sorry to disappoint any of you that would like it to be. I do, however, have a bit that I planned that might make all of you fan-girls a bit happier. Thanks to my reviewers, readers and RASA!

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The Winter Ball was an event that all of Hogwarts knew about, regardless of individual feelings. The teachers would decorate the Great Hall with un-meltable snow flakes, huge Christmas trees, mistletoe here and there, large wreaths of holly (with complex decorations within themselves, each representing different Houses or Hogwarts in general) and various talking ginger treats, gossiping openly about passing students, strung along the walls. The decorations went up about a week before the ball, which signaled to all students that _they'd better hurry up and ask someone before it was too late_. This was the thought going through Remus's head as he sat with Kylie in the library. The two, catching up on the homework they missed during the full moon and recovery of last week, were poured over several books and parchment, trying to get just the right information. Remus scratched his head, due to the immense difficulty in concentrating on the pages before him. Although he knew that his studies were very pressing matters, he couldn't help but put an overwhelming amount of stress on himself to just _ask her to the ball_.

No, perhaps it was a terrible idea. Their relationship was awkward, full of silence and screams. Until, of course, the day after their first full moon together. Remus had woken up, immediately terrified that something had gone wrong, that Kylie was hurt, that he had bitten someone else, that Kylie was really, really hurt. He suddenly didn't wonder if he had suffered any injuries, no, now it was all about Kylie. An incredible urge to protect her had developed in the course of one night, and he doubted it would ever leave, as it was likely rooted in their upsetting similarity. She had been fine, though, and Remus had never been more thankful for his friends who had been sitting in the room as they always had been when he awoke. Sirius had been draped over a chair, his forehead, canopied in shaggy hair, supported on Remus's bed; while James and Peter silently and dispassionately scribbled down a few lines for the Potion's chapter outline.

He remembered hearing them whisper to each other excitedly, and then hearing a raspy, but sweet feminine voice. At that point, he opened his eyes and looked over to see tangled blonde hair in the bed next to his. She looked confused and exhausted, but overall unharmed. The relief that flooded his body was unlike anything he had ever felt before. He rose slowly and grinned with his friends, who were quick to recognize his consciousness as well. She said that she just felt sore, but she didn't have any other injuries. Remus forced himself out of his bed and sat on the foot of hers, her screams still echoing in his ears from the night before. But the five of them got to talking, and the sound of her laughter (was that her genuine laugh? It had nearly been a month since he'd last heard it) replaced that. And she was grinning, he remembered, like she had always been there on the morning after, like she had always been part of this tight-knit group. (He had an awkward internal laugh—he hoped she would always be there the morning after…)

Glancing up at Kylie, Remus cautiously opened his mouth, ready to ask her, finally. Quickly, he shut his mouth as another wave of thoughts overtook him, sending him further into the mysterious world that is doubt. Surely his attempt would look pathetic in comparison to James' proposition to Lily only twenty minutes earlier? The bespectacled boy had charmed the castle's suits of armor into, stopping her on her way to class, singing a somewhat off pitch rendition of "You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me," and hoisting Lily high in the air whilst James asked her to the dance—with the whole of Hogwarts watching, of course. Lily, who had avoided the group in its entirety since her revelation, rushed out of the facility, the colour of her face bearing a strong resemblance to that of her hair. Remus frowned at the thought.

"Remus?"

He looked up at her, her beautiful eyes widened. She looked at him expectantly. "Well?"

He stared at her, confused. She sighed and rolled her eyes, a bit of a smile hanging off the corner of her moist lips. "I asked if you'd finished number four, but you're obviously off on another planet." She laughed again.

"Oh." _Wow. Really, Remus, Really?_

"What's wrong?" She seemed genuine enough, which must mean that she cared for him, right? Right. But…No, perhaps he was reading into things—but it was just one dance. Frustrated with himself, he decided that he would just get it over with.

"Kylie, I was wondering, about the ball..." he started, exactly as he had to his mirror several times within the past week. Well, that was about as far as he had gotten with the mirror as well. After that, he had tried many different phrases and wordings to ask her in the most effective, cool way, but all seemed to be lost to him at that moment.

Her demeanor depressed visibly at Remus's words. He took that as a very unfortunate change of direction, but it was a direction he would have to go down anyways.

"What?"

She looked down at her paper again, and shook her head dismissively. "Nothing, it's just that I wanted to go with someone, but it turns out they just... Nevermind… its nothing."

It certainly didn't seem like nothing to Remus, and half of him was desperately hanging onto cloud nine at the very thought that maybe, just maybe, she could be talking about him.

"Who?" he asked before really thinking through what she had just said. If it was him, then he would ask her, plain and simple. No hurt feelings—the two would have a wonderful time, and then he could give her the chocolates he had bought for her that were at the bottom of his bag. Or was he supposed to give them to her before he asked? Drat.

She bit the inside of her bottom lip and scratched her knee. "Regulus Black..." she mumbled as Remus's heart sunk, settling somewhere around his hipbones. She didn't look up to notice.

"It's not that big of a deal, we just aren't... Well, I mean, he's a Black, and I'm a halfblood, so he said it wouldn't be good for his parents to hear about it, and, yeah..." She trailed off, fidgeting with her quill and keeping her gaze on the crinkled page.

Lately, Remus had been feeling the oddest combinations of feelings with Kylie. First, at the hospital when the two first saw each other and he felt bombarded with guilt, yet the strangest sort of happy, like they were siblings who hadn't seen each other in years. Then, during the full moon, when he became overwhelmed with guilt once again, but a need to protect her grew from that—like a Phoenix from the ashes. Now, as he sat across from her, he felt heartbroken and furious. He had really thought that she was feeling this odd sort of bond that he was feeling for her, but obviously Regulus was more than that. But how could Regulus do that to her? She was wonderful, so why would status mean anything? His rational mind knew exactly why the two couldn't be seen as a couple in any sense. Sirius was the epitome of that fundamental difference.

It didn't sit well with him either way. His stomach shifted uncomfortably—she deserved more than that. "I, um, didn't realize you felt that way for him." _Of course you didn't, Remus. You hardly know anything about her. You two share one thing in common, that's it. _

She brushed it off with an unconvincing shrug, falsely smiling. "You were saying something before?"

"Oh." What did he say now? "I'm not going with anyone either."

"Well," she said, with the sort of confidence that Remus only saw in her at rare moments, "We should go together."

His eyes widened and a hot blush crept up the back of his neck.

"As friends of course," she added.

"Right," he replied, his heart sinking just a little further, but he forced the corners of his lips into an upward curl, "As friends."

* * *

Remus's first kiss was nothing like he had ever imagined, even in his wildest of dreams (And really, he had had some pretty interesting dreams). He had gotten back to his dorm, crestfallen and intent on finishing his homework on his own for the remainder of the night. Tossing the mushed and melted chocolates on his bed, he slumped down beside them, feeling equally crushed, and began to finish up his work. Three hours later, he went into the bathroom for a quick shower.

Pulling off his clothes, he noticed the folded up letter in his pocket. A prickling sort of feeling came over his heart as he held it in his hand. He tossed the letter, addressed to him from his father, into the rubbish bin and continued to undress himself. He came out fifteen minutes later, dressed in a baggy long-sleeved shirt and sweat pants to find one frightfully cheerful Sirius Black, messily munching on the melted treats.

"Those weren't yours," Remus said, but he wasn't sure he really cared. Sirius looked up, his chocolate covered grin stretching from ear to ear.

"Moo'y!" Sirius said, rolling over on his back on Remus's bed. Remus wrinkled his nose at the stench of alcohol from Sirius's breath.

"Are you drunk?"

Sirius burst into a fit of giggles and then rolled right off the bed, landing with a dull thump.

Remus glanced at the clock on the wall. 11:07. He was about to question where James and Peter were, but then remembered their detentions, something that Sirius was undoubtedly skipping. Weren't they supposed to get done at 11?

"I thought you were at detention." His tone was dry and unamused.

"I did it, mate," Sirius slurred, attempting to push himself up from the carpet.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Did what, exactly? Why are you so intoxicated?"

"I got laiiiiiiiid."

Remus blinked. He stared at Sirius, who looked comical, half an arm on the bed, the rest of his body still very much on the floor. He blinked again. "I'm sorry, what?"

Sirius laughed again, and managed to pull himself onto Remus's bed. "Ok, soooo, it wasn't full on but Moooony, we weren't wearing much. Sooo good." He looked up and Remus, who was frowning deeply. "Wha's wrong moons? Not got any from 'ylie yet?"

Remus figured that there were two types of werewolves in the world. Those who were lucky and could keep the two consciousnesses separate, and those who couldn't. It was a difference between Remus and Fenrir that gave him much confidence whenever he weighed the overwhelming similarities between him and his biter. He rationalized that he had a thick separation between the wolf and himself, at least mentally. He'd heard about the werewolves that gave his kind such a bad name. The ones that lashed out violently, murdering muggles and wizards when still in their human form. Fortunately for Remus, he rarely had outbursts, and none were as violent as the aforementioned.

Unfortunately for Sirius, 'rarely' didn't mean 'never'.

Remus's hands were on Sirius's throat milliseconds after the words escaped his mouth. He straddled the boy on the bed, his teeth bared and a low growl was forming in the bottom of his throat. There was shock apparent in Sirius's grey, glazed eyes, but no fear. James had been terrified of Remus before, and Peter (although he tried desperately to hide it) wasn't the most confident in Remus's self control at times. Remus never blamed them, but Sirius didn't blink at the moment.

"Don't you _ever_ say that again," he growled, pushing his hands closer together around Sirius's throat. Sirius started to laugh, but then shifted to a cough until Remus let go.

"'elax," Sirius slurred after Remus rolled off of him. He giggled again and leaned over, his breath making Remus grimace. "You 'ust need to get it over with."

And then it happened. Remus really didn't register it until afterwards. Just a wet, sloppy, chocolate-covered peck on Remus's chapped lips. In theory, that should've been nearly the epitome of Remus's idea of a first kiss. However, some blatant differences were at hand. Sirius burst out laughing again, (successfully rolling off the bed for a second time, with another, louder thump) and then promptly puked all over the carpet.

He hadn't even heard the door open, but Remus turned his head to see James and Peter staring at the two of them, their eyes wide and their jaws dropped.

"You can 'ave your cho'lats back now, 'oony."

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SO. Yeah. What did you think?


	9. Chapter 9

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Here is my gift to you, and right at midnight (well, my time at least). This chapter is full of goodness, so hopefully it was worth the wait. Thanks to Makky, a new beta of mine! Enjoy!

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Remus remembered why he loathed school dances. The hatred had dissipated at the thought of actually taking a girl with him, but as he stood in front of the mirror, he felt the familiar feelings returned. It wasn't as if he was the worst looking boy in the school, but staring at the reflection of himself in second-hand shabby robes, he certainly didn't feel as spectacular as Sirius, who was dressed to perfection. The ends of Remus' robes, frayed, were uneven, and the browns seemed so boring. He wouldn't look like an appropriate date for Kylie, but then again, they were just going _as friends._ He frowned at the thought, just as James rushed in the room, one shoe in hand.

"Have you seen my other shoe?" he asked, kneeling down to inspect under the bed, his glasses askew.

"Bathroom. Sink." Remus replied, his voice a little distant as he was still distracted by his thoughts.

James ran to the bathroom without a reply. Remus adjusted his robes one last time before heading down to the common room to meet Sirius and Peter.

The indisputable fact that Sirius had kissed Remus had become common knowledge of all of Hogwarts within the hour of its occurrence. This was thanks to James yelling "Did you two just _kiss?_" and Peter retreating back to the common room in complete shock. Apparently, very few questioned the validity of the rumor that spread and spread from the common room to the halls and other common rooms. Remus soon discovered that many had a previous suspicion about a romantic depth of Sirius and Remus's relationship. That fact alone was almost as shocking and upsetting as the kiss itself. Did he _really_ act that gay? Remus certainly didn't think so as he looked at Sirius and Peter, one in the finest dress robes money could buy and the other in mediocre ones. Sirius bowed when Remus entered the room, then knelt down and took Remus' hand; however Remus was quick to snatch his hand away. A couple of second and first year girls stopped complaining about their dresses to giggle at the pair.

"My love," Sirius gushed, earning another giggle from the girls. Thankfully, it was only the very young students or the crazed fan girls that had any belief that something was really going on between the two. Sirius had overplayed his 'affection' for Remus so dramatically that even James was getting a bit irked. But really, it was all just fun and games for him.

The situation had been dealt with accordingly, with Remus frowning in disgust at the partying and James half heartedly high-fiving Sirius for his 'score.' Peter was now trying to be chattier with the girls, although this almost always ended up with him stuttering madly and nearly wetting himself. But really, the shift was quite a surprise to the other three Marauders. Since when did Padfoot become such a ladies man? When James had asked, Sirius just shrugged and replied that he had always been able to do his magic.

"Found it," James proclaimed as he walked down to the common room to meet all of them. The four were quite a sight, dressed in a variety of robes and each about to join different girls. With a quick exchange of looks between the group, they walked together to the Great Hall.

"I wonder if the Slytherins are still sparkly," Sirius mused as the four rounded a corner. The four were, after all, the Marauders and after the shock of Kylie and the first full moon wore off, they set to work on their pranks once more. Their most recent had consisted of the pumpkin juice at the Slytherin table exploding into millions of tiny bits of red and gold glitter. Fortunately, the glitter stuck to anyone it touched, so it was incredibly difficult to clean up. A couple of second years still had the glitter that was constantly rearranging itself into different shapes and words. Remus grinned largely at the little lion that was on one of the second year's forehead. He recognized the boy to be Jon, who had a reputation for trying (and failing) to date older girls.

When they arrived, Remus took in the whole room. The tables that usually held the four houses were elsewhere in the castle, although Remus hadn't a clue where Dumbledore could store such large pieces of furniture. The decorations were still up and a small orchestra was playing where the teachers usually ate. On the other side was an incredible amount of food that kept reappearing; cakes of all kinds and appetizers, along with gallons of pumpkin juice and a hot chocolate fountain.

Although Remus felt a strong urge to go get a mug of hot chocolate, his attention got turned to Sirius who accidentally bumped him when waving to his date. _One_ of his dates.

Sirius had managed to bring three different girls to the Winter Ball; one from Gryffindor, another from Ravenclaw and a third from Hufflepuff. He had convinced each of them that he would have to dance with a lot of girls at the party in order to convince others that he really wasn't gay. So none of them knew of each other and Sirius somehow thought that none of them would suspect anything. Remus found this to be infuriating, but he didn't say anything because this was Sirius. That was usually a good excuse for Remus to be silent because he cut him quite a lot of slack.

James' date appeared within moments, a pretty third year girl who was more than happy to go with James 'as friends.' He couldn't go by himself to the dance and he couldn't go with Lily, so this girl, Ivy Abbot, would have to do.

Even Peter found a date, but Remus had a strong suspicion that she was part of the Sirius fan club and was only going with Peter in attempt to be closer to Sirius. This was disappointing, but he kept it to himself. James seemed to be on the same page, but was also silent, because this was Peter and Peter had never been on a proper date before.

"Remus?"

He turned around to see a girl with blond hair, curled, part of it pinned up. She wore a floor length sky blue dress that draped gracefully from her thin form. It didn't look like she was wearing much make up, but just enough to enhance her natural features. Her arms and shoulders were covered with a small white cardigan and around her neck was silver necklace that Remus could only assume wasn't made of actual silver.

"Uh," he replied intelligently.

"You look nice," comment James with a friendly smile before turning back to his own date. Kylie smiled cheekily at the remark which made Remus a bit uncomfortable.

"Yes," Remus started, "You look b-b-beautiful." He flushed scarlet at his stuttering and how corny he sounded. He pulled at the ends of his sleeves as the two stood there, but before Kylie could reply, the two of them were pulled into the middle of the dance floor by Sirius, who seemed to have escaped from his first date. Remus didn't like being surrounded by so many people, but Kylie didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

"Listen," Sirius said with a grin as the music took a different turn of direction, "Time to dance!" And with a laugh at Remus' embarrassed face, he pushed the two together and walked off to find his second date.

Remus awkwardly put his hand on her waist and held his other hand with hers. The dance was incredibly basic, but he recognized it as one of the annoying absurd 'and now you switch partners' dances after a certain number of counts. There was really no turning back now, as he started to lead Kylie in the best way he knew how. His face kept the scarlet and he would glance up every now and again to see if she was looking at him; every time he _did _manage to catch her eye, his heart felt incredibly tight and stoic for a moment that he quickly looked away again.

"I like your dress robes," she commented as the two continued to move around the dance floor. Immediately he looked down, as if he had forgotten what he was wearing, and frowned at the frayed and tattered robes.

"But they are so… old," he replied with a frown.

"Yes but," she looked him up and down again, "It's not like you're Sirius who's trying to flaunt his wealth."

Remus glanced over at Sirius who was dancing with #2. It never ceased to amaze him how incredibly elegant and poised the reckless and impulsive teen could look in such an environment. It was something that was undeniably Black, which Sirius would deny anyways. Remus knew of the aristocratic society that Sirius grew up in and a lot of what that entailed, including the manners and dance lessons. It was part of him that would stick, no matter how much he wanted to get away from his family, and for that Remus felt pity.

"Uh, yeah," Remus started, "or my ability to get girls. How he managed to get three dates is beyo-"

He quickly shut up, realizing he probably shouldn't have said anything, but he doubted that Sirius would care if the three girls found out about each other. After all, there were plenty more where they came from.

Kylie looked at him, surprised and then glanced over at Sirius. "What? He went with Erin, I remember because she told the entire common room."

"Uh… well yeah, but he's also bought a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff."

Kylie frowned deeply at this. "I _told_ you that he was going to end up hurting someone. What's so charming about someone so arrogant?"

Remus sighed. "He's just… Sirius."

Kylie rolled her eyes, but then let out a small grin. "Trying to stick up for your lover, hmm?"

At this, Remus gave a dry 'ha, ha, ha', but felt a genuine smile pull through at the end.

"An awful boyfriend he is, though. Look at him, going about with all those girls. It must hurt your poor, sensitive soul."

He was going to answer, but then the cue was given to switch partners and within a matter of seconds he found himself face to face with a fiery red head. He vaguely wondered if she had used a spell to get the color of the dress to match her eyes perfectly, or if girls were just that good at shopping. Regardless, he felt almost as uncomfortable as he had with Kylie, who was now dancing with Jon the Second Year Slytherin. Kylie looked as though she was trying not to laugh at the obvious overly flirty comments she was receiving from the twelve year old.

"Hello, Remus," his partner started, looking mildly ashamed.

"Hello, Lily."

"I just wanted to apologize for avoiding you," she said, looking him straight in the eye. "I was just shocked, because, well, that kind of thing is shocking. I'm sorry- I really don't think any differently of you or her and I can't imagine how difficult this must be—"

"Lily," Remus interrupted.

"Sorry, I just… Sorry."

Remus managed a small smile, glad to have a friend back. She was quick to get onto another subject.

"So… you and Kylie? Romantically, I mean." She smirked teasingly.

Remus shook his head and looked down at his shoes, which were moving with his feet, leading Lily. "W-what? No. No, just friends."

"She'll come around," Lily said in the way that all girls did when they decided to be omniscient. This always bothered him, especially when it was Lily, because she tended to be right in the oddest of ways. He decided to throw the ball back in her court.

"Who did you come with?"

"Severus," she replied, but then hastily added, "As friends, of course."

"Oh, I didn't realize."

"Yes, well, Severus is a good person and I don't know why you all torment him so much."

Remus looked over at James who had managed to just slip onto the dance floor with Ivy Abbott.

"I'm assuming he doesn't know?"

Lily glared in James' direction. "I don't have to answer to him. What is he doing babysitting, anyway?"

Remus continued his mechanical movements, now much more fluid with Lily than with Kylie. "She seems like a nice girl," he commented with little enthusiasm, trying to see if he could help his friends' case out a little bit.

And then he was off to his next partner who was a first year Hufflepuff who had attempted to use grade three glamour charms. The whites of her eyes were bright green, and it looked as if a clown had painted red circles onto her cheek.

He took this chance to look around the room to find Kylie. She'd somehow ended up with Regulus Black, both of them speaking softly and smiling. Her eyes widened with surprise as she stepped on his foot, causing them to both laugh, but Regulus stopped himself after a moment as to not look like he enjoyed it too much. Remus grumbled uncomfortably to himself, causing his dance partner to look at him oddly.

Finally, that dance ended and he retreated to the food.

"Snape," James said furiously to Sirius as Remus joined them, "She went with _Snivellus_!"

Sirius shot a small smile and waved at a girl across the room before turning back to James. "Not to worry, I've already set something up to fix that."

James arched a brow, knowing Sirius' track record for going solo on pranks, but he didn't care too much right now. After all, Lily was here with Snape, _"Snape! Snape of all people!" _and hence James was all for supporting Sirius.

Kylie walked over, having finally parted with Regulus, who went to his respective Slytherin group.

"Hot chocolate?" Remus offered her with a little hitch in his voice. She smiled at the hitch and nodded as he poured her a cup.

"Where'd Peter run off to?" Kylie asked, glancing around the crowded room. She narrowed her eyes and then laughed, her smile softening. "Aw! He managed to get a date! That's very cute."

James grinned and nodded but then looked Kylie in the eye and moved a bit closer to her. "Unfortunately, I think the girl's only with him because of Sirius," he muttered under his breath. He stepped away again and smiled once more. "But what he doesn't know won't hurt him, so it would be best not to tell the poor lad that."

Sirius raised a brow at this and a mischievous glint formed in his eye. "Really?" The infamous Sirius smirk spread across his lips "Is that so?" His voice seemed a little bit slurred and he was red in the face.

"Don't," Kylie said immediately, staring Sirius straight in the eye.

"When did you get so outspoken?" he asked, amused.

She narrowed her gaze at him. "I've never changed since you met me, Black. You just don't know me very well."

Sirius chuckled at this answer and Remus really didn't like the way that he was looking at her.

"Well, Ms. Anderson, I'm sure I'll be getting to know you better over the next couple of years, no doubt. Just think, the horror of you having to wake up to my bright and shining face once a month. How ever will you survive?"

Remus frowned at the alcoholic stench coming from Sirius's mouth, but didn't say anything.

Kylie rolled her eyes, taking another sip of hot chocolate to hide the smile turning at the corner of her lips.

The four of them stood there, talking about this and that while James' date got a bit irritated at the lack of attention and Sirius grew increasingly interested with the other girls around the room as he drank more and more from the flask inside of his dress robes. Kylie wrinkled her nose at that, while James pretended that he didn't notice, but exchanged a glance with Remus, clearly stating 'we'll sort him out later.' Before long, the band announced that soon the formal part would be over, and that if anyone wanted to squeeze in one last ball room dance, they should do so shortly.

"Right mate," Sirius said, clapping his hand on James' shoulder and Peter walked over, looking miserable "time to put my plan into action." And without another word, he was off, patting Peter childishly on the head as he went.

"What's wrong?" Kylie asked as Peter took a mug of hot chocolate. He sighed, slouching furthermore.

"I've been dancing with her for nearly three quarters an hour and all she can talk about is Sirius."

James stepped towards Peter and gave him a sympathizing smile. "She was probably just nervous and didn't know what else to talk about."

Peter sighed in exasperation. "But I tried talking about everything. Even things that girls like, like purses and make up, but no, it all led back to him." He frowned once more and Kylie took him by the wrist.

"Peter, did you know that there's a girl who'd like to meet you?" Before he or James or Remus could protest, she was already pulling him towards a different section of the Hall. "She's in my year, a Hufflepuff…" Her voice trailed off as she got further and further away.

"And then there were two," Remus remarked dryly. James gave a sheepish smile as he started to walk towards the dance floor.

"Sorry mate! I wanted to put in one last dance with Ivy before she decides I'm a plank of a date."

And so Remus stood awkwardly, alone, next to the snack table. Things were going quite uneventful for him for the three minute dance that everyone else was participating in until several disgusted gasps were heard.

"_Eurgh!"_

"Gross, some of it's on my shoe!"

All those who were close to whatever it was were quite ready to get away from it, while everyone else wanted to know what was suddenly so terrible on the dance floor.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what I ate, I just—"

And then more gasps and groans were heard and Snape could be seen rushing out of the Great Hall, vomit covering his chin and shoes.

Remus didn't like where this was going.

Next was Lily, who was going with Professor McGonagall to the girls bathroom. Remus could smell the sick that covered her entire torso, soiling her perfectly green dress.

Things moved very quickly from that point. Another one of the teachers used a cleaning spell and quickly got the vomit from off the floor, and people started to dance once more.

He saw James at the other end of the Hall, looking around wildly for someone. Remus walked over to him, absently scanning the crowd for Kylie.

"That complete idiot!" James seethed, his eyes looking murderous. "Where is he?"

"I don't-" but he then heard something over the crowd, something that others without his keen senses couldn't. It was a faint, but very distinctive _'stop!'_ coming from outside the Hall.

Remus walked there quickly, with James following behind. Peter must've been looking for James, because he managed to meet them as they left the Hall. The sight that met Remus' eyes was not a pretty one.

Kylie's back was against the wall, with Sirius blocking her in. Her eyes were wide and full of anger. Sirius had his hands on her shoulders and he was giggling like an idiot.

Before Remus could take two steps to do _something_ to Sirius; whether it was ripping out his intestines from his throat or breaking every bone in his body for daring to upset Kylie, her knee had made contact with his stomach so that he'd doubled over and was on his knees within seconds.

That however, didn't seem to be enough for Remus. _He _had to do something to Sirius himself; how _dare _he even _think _about touching her? Remus rushed towards him, the wolf beginning to take over, but strong arms, which Remus assumed belonged to James, were quick to grab the back of Remus' robes and pull him away before he could mutilate Sirius's face.

Sirius stood up groaning, still clutching his side.

"Do _not_ touch me, Black," Kylie growled, her eyes flashing amber. "I don't know what kind of stupid game you're trying to play but I want no part of it. Leave me and my friends alone. I don't know what makes you rationalize that it's OK to use us, maybe it's the alcohol, but we aren't toys for you to play with, when you please."

Sirius groaned in response, the wind still very much knocked out of him. James relaxed his grip on Remus's robes and walked towards Sirius, still seething.

After a long silence, Sirius seemed to have recovered from the kick. His breathing had steadied and by the sounds of it, so had his mind. He looked between James, Remus, Kylie and Peter. He took a step back from all of them and folded his arms across his chest defensively.

"What the hell was that all about, mate?" James demanded, his teeth and fists clenched, breaking the silence. He voice echoed down the hall, but was drowned out by the loud music from inside of the Great Hall

"What? Nothing!" Sirius exclaimed, holding his hands up in a form of surrender. "I was just having a bit of fun!"

"Fun?" James looked like he would've actually hit Sirius. "Snape just puked all over Lily and now you're here trying to snog Kylie!"

"I didn't _actually_ snog her, so I don't see what the big deal is." Sirius replied defensively. "And as far as Lily goes; you should be thankful mate, at least she'll know better than to come with _Snape_ next time."

"Can you hear yourself?" James asked, half disgusted, half confused. "You've been getting drunk and messing around just for 'a bit of fun'. This isn't like you, what the hell happened?"

Sirius looked down darkly at the floor, his jaw clenched. He looked like he may not answer for a moment, but finally his voice came out in a sort of bitter mumble. "You left."

"What?"

Remus found himself moving closer towards Kylie during the confrontation, as it seemed to calm both the wolves down. The two of them were watching intently as to what Sirius's brilliant explanation would be.

"When Kylie got bitten," he muttered, glaring at the floor, "All of you bloody left."

"So you were lonely?" James asked incredulously, "You were lonely and you made it all about yourself? Remus almost died you complete arse!"

"That's my point!" Sirius shouted back, catching Remus off guard. "My family takes pride in what happens to werewolves who bite other people, how they get tortured and murdered, and that's all I could think about so I'm oh so sorry for trying to take my mind off of things!"

Remus didn't realize he was shaking at those words until he felt a warm hand slip into his in attempt to calm him down.

James grew uncomfortably silent at the words. Finally, he asked, "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because, if you haven't noticed…" Sirius rolled his eyes, his voice rising a little. "I'm not so great a talking about all this feelings crap. This conversation would be the epitome of that because I'm having the bloody time of my life here!"

"Well… parties and girls shouldn't have been your way to _blow off steam._ Jheeze mate." James put his hands in his pockets awkwardly, the conversation coming to a close.

Sirius turned to Kylie and scratched the back of his head, quietly muttering an apology. She narrowed her eyes and him and took her hand out of Remus'. "Don't let it happen again."

More silence.

"Well, there's still time to get in a couple more songs before the Ball is over. How about we go back in there?" Sirius offered weakly.

The bunch of them agreed and headed back into the Great Hall, but not before James made Sirius promise that this would be the last of his stupid stunts, at least in this area.

And so the night ended with a couple fist-pumping tunes that the students were more than happy to dance to. Remus was still a little frustrated about the situation, however he seemed to loosened up and actually enjoy himself with Kylie; both jumping up and down next to each other in the crowd. She sang along loudly, her eyes closed and a big smile on her face. As he watched her, one simple thought crossed his mind; he'd miss her over the winter holidays.

* * *

How'd you like it? Next chapter gets the real plot moving along, which I'm excited for! Hopefully you are too. Lemme know how it is, and how you're liking Kylie as a character. She isn't the main part of this story, but is a part of it. I'm getting her personality out there, hopefully you guys like her.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Wow, its been a while, but I am not giving up on this story. I have so much more that I want to do with it, and I've just started developing Kylie so I won't give up, even if it takes me years. Review! That's what keeps me motivated, really.

The ride to platform 9 and ¾ from Hogwarts was one of hilarity and underlying tension. Kylie joined the Marauders halfway through the ride with her cat, Rumbles, who wanted nothing more than to curl up on Remus's chest and sleep for days. James attempted to teach Kylie a ridiculous 'secret' handshake that involved much jumping and hand smacking, while Kylie laughed and tried to follow along the best she could. It was nice to see the two of them get along, and Peter even got to chat with that girl from the dance before leaving the train. She gave him a hug goodbye and Peter nearly passed out from the sheer shock of it all. Sirius, on the other hand, just lounged in the seat, watching James and Kylie, commenting here and there about how great the Christmas would be. But he wasn't incredibly sincere, especially since Regulus had been the one to walk behind Kylie when she had first arrived in the compartment. But the train stopped and the five of them got off.

Remus hated the cold. It had been something that he had fought with for as long as he remembered. He would much rather be in the sweltering hot heat instead of outside in with the snow getting stuck in his hair. However, under these circumstances, Remus could stand the snow and the icy breeze. Although a little embarrassed at the idea, Remus wanted to see Kylie off as she waited for her parents to pick her up from Kings Cross. Both of them were worried, each for different reasons but over the same general problem. The full moon would be awful for Kylie without anyone else there to keep her calm, and the guilt had made him sick to his stomach for the past couple of days. It would also be the first time she would see her little brother, Cody, since the summer, and he was sure to notice a change. Kylie had shared all of this with Remus during their studying sessions in the library, something that Remus was starting to enjoy more and more, and he was almost positive that Kylie did as well.

So, bundled up in tattered jackets and gloves, Remus walked with her, away from his friends, and towards the other end of the platform where her parents would be waiting. Regulus was going home for the holidays as well, something that Sirius hadn't been invited back for several years now, which made the walk mildly uncomfortable because Remus spotted Sirius's parents greeting their son with smiles (well, his mother, at least), while Sirius stayed back with James's parents on the other end.

"Well," she started when they reached the area that her parents would soon be arriving at, hugging her navy peacoat closer around her body. Her blonde hair splayed out in all directions around the Ravenclaw scarf that made its way out of the top of the coat and snuggled around her neck.

"Here," Remus said, pulling out one of the nicest boxes of assorted Honey Dukes chocolate that he could afford. "For after, you know, it'll help. I know its not much, but, um," he frowned at his stammering as he handed it to her. A large grin bloomed on her face that quickly turned into a laugh as she reached into her own coat pocket.

"I didn't know if we were exchanging little gifts, but I got you this just in case." She giggled again as she pulled out the exact box of chocolates. Remus laughed and felt quite good about himself for being thought of.

"Thanks, its my favorite." The two exchanged identical boxes just as three figures appeared in the distance that must've Kylie's family.

Kylie looked at the train, then back at Remus. The fear was slowly starting to creep into her eyes and Remus was beginning to feel guilty. She tried to be strong, Remus knew that she truly did. But it failed sometimes, and this was one of those moments.

"It'll be ok, Kylie," he muttered, not knowing what else to say to comfort her, although wanting to make everything go back to how it was.

She looked him in the eyes, amber meeting amber, and bit her lip. Remus had learned a lot about Kylie since he bit her, and one thing that stuck out was her ability to be predictably unpredictable. If she was acting a certain way for a while, her mood would change at random to something different. And, as an interesting side note, he learned that she liked to take spoons from muggle restaurants, because it was thrilling and not really stealing. After a long silence, she pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm going to miss you," she whispered. Remus hugged her back, pressing her warm body against his.

"I'll miss you too."

And then she ran off to meet her family and Remus walked back to his dad.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

There was very little event that occurred during the winter holidays. Remus spent the first week at his own silent home with a father who wouldn't hardly look at him. His transformation was terrible, and he woke up feeling awful for Kylie. His father did what little he could, medically, and that was all that was offered of him. Remus was used to this by now, but the silence was starting to drag him into a slight depression. He wouldn't confront his father, no, because Remus was never one to be blunt, but the entire ordeal, or lack thereof, made him frustrated. His father's single letter that year had been a half baked apology and less than fifty words. He cut his dad a lot of slack, but when the time came for him to join the Potters, Remus was more than thrilled to leave his house.

Christmas's at the Lupin household used to be full of holiday spirit and the baking of Christmas cookies and singing carols so loudly that the neighbors would come over and complain. His mom would make egg nog and even let Remus have a sip or too before bed. And then, Remus would rush down on Christmas morning to see what Father Christmas brought, his little feet poking out from his pajamas as he rushed down the staircase and into the living room where the tree sat. It always looked like the biggest tree from his small height, and he'd stare at the bright lights in awe. He'd wake his parents with his childish soprano voice just as the sun rose, and his father would scoop him up in his arms and they'd all take turns opening gifts.

The last Christmas that they'd had a tree was when Remus was six, the year after he had been bitten. It hadn't been the best Christmas, and all the spirit had been stamped out by the stress, but his parents had tried. But his parents quickly split afterwards, and then… Remus didn't like to think about that part.

This Christmas had been no different than the last. There were no exchanging of gifts between he and his father, no special Christmas dinner, no singing of carols and no eggnog before bed. His father just read the paper and muttered a Merry Christmas, and that was probably the longest sentence that Remus had gotten out of him all during break.

After Christmas, the four made plans for their yearly camping trip to the acres of woods that the Potters owned. This time, however, they would be going alone. Usually, the Potters would take the boys out to the woods and build a tent and a fire with them, completely muggle-style. It was to build character, or something like that, and although it was difficult to not just use magic for everything, it was actually entertaining watching Sirius try to strike a match. But this year, the Potters decided that the boys would go off on their own and try to survive a night without magic. It didn't sound particularly difficult, but there was still a mild protest.

Nonetheless, the four found themselves in the middle of the woods at about 4 pm with tent supplies, food, water and fire wood.

"Well lads," James started, taking the leadership role, "We should probably start getting a fire ready and set the tent up."

And so began the misadventures of Sirius Black and the muggle axe.

"Why. Won't. You. Split. In. Half." Sirius grunted as he kept hitting the log with the axe.

"Do you need help?" Remus asked, looking up from the half assembled tent.

"No," came the quick reply as Sirius began to hack away ungracefully again.

Once the logs got properly assembled, the boys attempted to start the fire. It wasn't until Remus snatched the remaining three matches from Sirius's hands that the logs were able to burn. By then, it was getting very dark and immediately food was suggested. The food, fortunately for them, was pre-cooked, so the four just reheated the aluminum foil covered potatoes and beef over the coals. After eating their fill, which didn't take long at all, the least attentive of the group became quite bored and was ready to try something else.

"Hide and seek!" cried Sirius.

"But its dark," replied Peter, looking at the seeming abyss away from the fire.

"Theres two muggle flashlights in the pack, so we can do teams. It'll be easy. Peter, you go with Remus and I'll stay with James. You have three minutes to hide and thirty minutes to get back to base. Ready? Go!"

And because Sirius was the best one at making things happen, Peter and Remus were off into the darkness within seconds, flashlight in Peter's hand. It wasn't until they couldn't see the fire that Remus realized just how dark it was outside. Without the flashlight guiding their way, the two would've been completely lost. However, they jogged quietly out into the cold, the flashlight leading their way.

Remus quickly learned that, as hard as Peter tried to be, Peter wasn't the most comfortable in the dark. The flashlight would dart in different directions whenever a twig snapped or a leaf crunched. Considering how frequent that was, Remus was having a hard time differentiating between where Peter intended on walking and where Peter intended on revealing something potentially dangerous. The two finally settled at a small ditch among the trees. And they sat, waiting for any sign of movement. It wasn't long at all before another person was running towards them, and that was their cue to start running as well. Peter was, inevitably, tagged first, but Remus used his incredible speed to reach base just before Sirius snatched the back of his shirt.

"Not fair," Sirius panted, hands on his knees, "You're too fast." But Remus just grinned, loving the feeling of being out of breath, and waited for another round.

Several rounds later, Peter and Remus were back to hiding. As they walked further away from the base, they looked for more obscure places to hide. Peter's confidence had grown since the first game, and he seemed to becoming more familiar with the area. Just as Peter pointed towards a tree that they could probably climb, a loud cackling was heard from afar. The two boys halted and Peter pointed the flashlight in the direction of the laughing.

"What was that?" he whispered, his voice tight.

Before Remus could reply, a loud boom shook the trees and red sparks could be seen in the black sky.

Another, louder set of cackles erupted from the source.

And then screams. Screams like Remus had never heard before. The booms continued as if an attempt to cease the screams, but it only made them louder.

"Look!" Peter said, his eyes wildly looking at the sky. Remus looked and then suddenly wished that he hadn't. Muggles. Muggles were the booms. At every boom, several more muggles flew into the sky, screaming for help, for mercy. They weren't close enough to hear the thuds of the people hitting the ground, and Remus certainly didn't want to be anywhere near here when they hit. His mind went into survival mode, and the first thing he needed to do was get everyone together.

That was around the time that Peter decided he wanted the opposite. Peter tried to be brave for maybe three seconds before fleeing from the scene. With the flashlight. Thank goodness for Remus's ability to see more clearly in the dark than the rest of the group.

"Peter, wait!" Remus shouted, and then immediately realized his mistake because the booms stopped at his voice.

"Seems like somebody else is heeeere," said a sickly playful shout along with the cackle. The voice was... familiar? Familiar in a way that Remus really, really didn't like. Adrenaline was really starting to kick in as he turned to follow Peter. Three steps in the crunchy grass and -snap- a hooded, giggling figure appeared in front of him. Remus thought his heart would burst out of his chest right then.

"Going somewhere?" she asked, circling him with what most definitely sounded like a grin. Remus felt completely naked without his wand. He only had his strength and intelligence, neither which would hold up very well against an armed witch.

What little hope Remus had of sprinting away was crushed when two more sets of footsteps crunched behind him.

"Aww," the voice was a male's, "Did we interrupt your trip in the woods?"

"What? Are we wasting our time on a frightened little school boy. C'mon," the third voice urged, "We can have a lot more fun at the muggle town down the road."

"Don't be such a spoil sport," giggled the girl, "This is one of the blood traitor's friends. I recognize him from school."

Remus swallowed hard, his eyes searching for an opening as the three circled closer and closer.

But then everything began happening very quickly. The giggling girl shot a curse at him, which he ducked out of the way, the top of it singeing his hair. The girl, stupid, hadn't anticipated Remus's swiftness so it was a shock when the curse hit the wizard behind him. Remus took that chance to sprint off in the other direction, his legs moving much more quickly than they had in quite some time.

He hadn't realized how far he and Peter had travelled into the woods, so far that they had crossed out of the Potter's land and almost to the nearby town where the muggles inevitably had come from. A string of flashing red flew past his ear, urging him to run more quickly. He tried his best to formulate an escape plan, but without the four of them together, it would be cruel to leave them behind. Fortunately for him, he could run extremely quickly, and the curses became more and more off target. They came to a stop all together, but Remus didn't let himself stop running. He made his way back to the camp where James and Sirius were standing, looking confused.

"Whats the matter? Where did all that wandfire come from?" James asked, stepping towards Remus, "And where's Peter?"

It was as if on cue. A shrill scream could be heard from a ways away. Without saying anything, the boys hastily rushed towards the source of the screams.

"We need wands!" James exclaimed as they ran, "Or some sort of way out of this."

But Remus didn't have an answer. The screams continued and soon the three could see a figure being held above the trees, squirming and in obvious pain. Bellatrix was shouting a string of words at Peter that Remus couldn't hear from there.

"Stop!" Cried Sirius. But then Sirius himself came to a halt when he saw who was behind the wand. "You bitch!" he shouted at his cousin, Bellatrix.

"Aw, whats the matter Siri? We're just having a bit of fun." She giggled and moved her wand about happily, as if toying with Peter.

That's when the wolf took over. Before anyone had time to react, Remus tackled Bellatrix to the ground, clawing her skin and forcing the wand out of her hand. Peter promptly fell with a thud. He continued to hold her down for the seconds it took for the other perpentrators to react and for James to run over to Peter. Then suddenly, just as Remus was hexed off of Bellatrix, James and Peter were gone with a pop! And only seconds later, James's father appeared, grabbed Sirius and Remus, and they were back in the Potter house.

Remus took a moment to comprehend what had just happened. The relief that fell over him quickly disappeared when he looked at James and Peter, both of whom had splinched during the amateur apparition. Peter was missing part of his calf and James had a large lump of his shoulder taken out. Both were unconscious, probably from the pain. Mr. Potter was already on his hands and knees, examining the wounds with a grimace on his face. Mrs. Potter was already packing up a few things for St. Mungos, rushing about the kitchen and bedrooms for extra clothes for the boys. Remus didn't hear anyone talk, but it was like the two of them were completely on the same page.

And then, just like that, they were at the wizarding hospital, Mr. Potter carrying his son and Mrs. Potter carrying Peter. Remus somehow wound up with a bag of things in his hands. His head was starting to spin, and Sirius put his hand on his shoulder, although it was evident that he was having trouble comprehending the last three minutes as well.

But it was clear that James and Peter were going to be ok. Everyone was safe. They were all ok. He just needed to sit down. He slumped into a chair in the waiting area as Mediwitches and wizards took Peter and James from the Potters, both parents following along. The familiar smells and tiled floors added to Remus's discomfort, but he kept repeating his mantra over and over in his head. James and Peter were ok. Everyone was safe. James and Peter were ok. Everyone was safe.

What did you think? This was originally longer (There are two other pages but I cut it off and am starting the next chapter there, so that's why the ending is a bit abrupt) but I wanted to get this out right now! Hope you enjoyed.


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